


In the Time of Quarantine

by Vesperchan



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: A Papyrus Chapter, A poly chapter, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternative chapters, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Grandma and Red both have potty mouths, Honey, If you thought Sans was a blushing mess, M/M, Now there is a chapter two, Oneshot, Other, Pick your romance option, Polyamory, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Quarantine, Reader Insert, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader's gender is not specified, Red is a good egg, Underfell, Underfell Sans is a blushing mess, above ground, chapters are not related, finished fic, gender neutral reader, quarantine fic, reader has anxiety, there's a Red Chapter, toxic parents, who doesn't, you've got a big storm coming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23190087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperchan/pseuds/Vesperchan
Summary: You're stuck indoors with your grandmothers because of the mandated quarantine, but monsters are out there running errands since they're not susceptible to human illness. The monster who lives downstairs brings you guys groceries and stays for dinner.Chapter One: Sans OptionChapter Two: Papyrus OptionChapter Three & Four: Poly Option
Relationships: Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 137
Kudos: 528





	1. What if: Underfell Sans/Red

**Author's Note:**

> I know right now there is a lot of stress and anxiety going around and I'm not the only one going a little stir crazy. Stay safe, stay kind, and stay determined.

You set your phone down, fed up with the endless feed of updates from local and national news sites. You were dealing with information overload at this point and you needed to cut yourself off before it drove you any more crazy.

You choose to instead plug your phone in and leave it behind to join your grandmothers on the couch. Grandma Mini was knitting while Memaw was asleep.

“You’ll go crazy that way,” Mini chuckled. Her hands were a blur of repeated patterns, dropping and looping the stitching around her needles until it needed to be turned around and started anew. You loved the sound of her needles and wished you could mimic it on your own. Years ago she had tried to teach you but it never stuck.

“What way?” you asked, genuinely confused.

“You don’t have anything for your hands to do but worry. Pick something up.”

That was a little easier said than done.

“I’m terrible at everything that requires hands. My fate is to perish thusly.” And because Mini always liked your jokes and dramatics you mimic dyingover the edge of your couch like some silent film actress from the 1920s. It warms your heart to hear her snickers over the click click sound of her needles.

“Pick up a book and read then but stay away from the television. You’ll just turn it onto the news.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” you lied.

Mini snorted and continued her thread work.

But because it’s only been two days and you’re out of homework you get off the couch long enough to look through the paperback collection your grandmothers had amassed over the years. It doesn’t surprise you as much as it first did to see how much of what fills their shelves is badly disguised smut masquerading as pulpy romance.

A newer title caught your eye and you gasped, pulling it free. “Monster smut?!”

Mini laughed but never stopped her needle work.

You pulled the paperback free and groaned at the painting of a beefy wolf monster cradling a busty blond dressed in rags. You checked the publication date and noted it was only a couple years old, well after the barrier came down. You didn’t know they _published_ the sort of stuff you only ever saw on the internet. 

“The cute skeleton monster downstairs recommended it during book club,” Mini explained.

You snickered, turning to face your grandmother. “Why am I not surprised? She recommend you any others?”

“ _He_ ,” Mini gently corrected. “And no, he’s not recommended any more recently but I imagine that’s because he’s so busy. He and his brother are part of the MRC.”

The Monster Response Coalition was a group of monsters who volunteered to run errands and help out during the quarantine since monsters were immune to ‘viral agents’ and other human illnesses. Since they couldn’t even be carriers the CDC had enlisted their help in stabilizing the chaos that followed quarantine procedures.

You were envious of the monsters for that. It had only been two days but you were starting to go a little stir crazy. Not that you weren’t used to staying indoors with all your free time, but you weren’t at home, you were at your grandmothers’ place….

_…and they didn’t have internet._

“Take it,” Mini said, interrupting your thoughts. “Neither of these old ladies will judge you for a little indulgence.”

“Pervy grandma,” you teased while replacing the paperback on the shelf. “I think I’ll instead get some dinner started. Stars knows it’ll take me a solid hour to figure out what to make with what we have.”

“Are we getting low again?”

“We should be fine for a few more days,” you answered before adding a sheepish, “sorry for eating all your food.”

Your grandmothers hadn’t been planning on housing you after the universities shut down and turned you all out, and they lived in a very humble apartment unit so there wasn’t a lot of space for them to be hoarding things like toilet paper and canned goods.

You’d have to take your ration card out and do the shopping for them soon. It was too risky to have either of them go out on their own.

Mini’s needles went silent as she reached instead for her ancient looking flip phone. “If we’re low I can make a call and one of the boys can pick up what we need if you give me a list.”

“One of the boys?”

“The monster brothers who live downstairs. I told you they were a part of the MRC, didn’t I?”

“Doesn’t that mean they’re super busy?”

“Yes, super busy helping old people. What do I look like to you, kiddo?” Mini teased with a coy smile. “Plus, we have an understanding ever since I proved myself by making lasagna roll ups. Favors for me have priority so long as I compensate with a meal.”

“They would do something like that?” you asked.

That sounded awfully generous, even for monsters signed up with the MRC. Having them run errands was so much safer for your grandmas then if _you_ did it on your own. What if you came into contact with something and brought it home?

“They _are_ doing something like that,” she gently corrected. “It sounds like only one other will be joining us for dinner tonight. Edge is still working through obligations but his brother said he could pick up what we need in the next half hour.”

You took down a notepad and started to take inventory of what the refrigerator and pantry were low on. Mini came over to help you before she texted each item through her flip phone to the helpful monster on the other end. When she was finished she closed it loudly and turned to you.

“Alright, now it’s time to pay up. What are we making?”

Mini took over to prepare the main chicken dish, using up the last of your meats, while you roasted the vegetables in a skillet. There wasn’t a lot to choose from, so you made the best out of what you could and whipped up some garlic roasted Brussel sprouts with mustard sauce. You and Mini worked to throw a salad together just in time for the doorbell to ring.

You heard Memaw’s snoring cut off and her curses as she hobbled up out of her seat and headed for the door. Mini called out to her wife, thanking her for ‘getting that’ while she had her hands full. It was one of the few times you didn’t hear your other grandmother curse in response. The only person Memaw didn’t curse out was her wife.

“What da hell are you doing here you piece of shit?” she barked at the door.

“Bringing you your damn groceries, shark face,” a deeper voice laughed in good candor. Mini sighed fondly in the kitchen, recognizing the banter.

“What took you so long? You got lost looking at your ugly mug in every mirror from here to Ebott?”

“Eh, what can I say, with a good looking mug like mine it’s pretty unbelievable.”

“Unbelievably _fucked_.”

“That ain’t what your mother told me last night.”

“My mother is dead, Sans.”

“Didn’t stop her from coming back for this dick!”

You almost snorted from behind Mini in the kitchen while Memaw laughed boldly. Mini didn’t seem embarrassed or surprised, but started moving dishes from the cabinets to the main table. You followed her with drinking glasses and then cutlery while Memaw and the monster at the door shuffled in.

“Kid, I got heavy things, come take them,” Memaw barked, shaking the bags.

“Calm your tits, grandma. I said I got them, no ned to make your kid-”

You came out from the kitchen alcove, wiping your hands on the ends of your sweater. You saw the thicker skeleton monster standing a half step behind your grandmother. He was tall, broad, and dressed in dark clothing reminiscent of most ‘Fell fashion trends. His coat at least sported a fluffy golden collar that added a little color to the rest of his look. It seemed he was wearing a red colored turtleneck under his coat but you couldn’t be sure with it all zipped up.

There weren’t any obvious scars but he did sport a single gold canine that suited the rest of his jagged teeth. His eye lights were scarlet colored and constricted into pin pricks before slowly blooming wide at the sight of you.

“I got it,” you laughed easily, taking the bags from Memaw. “You’re Sans, right? Thank you for getting these. We really appreciate all the work you’ve been doing to help out.”

Sans just….

Stared.

You tried to smile a little wider, like that would get him to react, but when he didn’t you chuckled nervously and took a half step back. You probably looked weird.

“I’ll get started putting these away. Please, take a seat. Dinner is on the table.”

You stepped back into the kitchen and set the bags down on the counter. Behind you Memaw slapped Sans’s arm loud enough to make the leather of his jacket crack. Mini chuckled but then scolded her wife before greeting ‘ _Red_ ’ herself.

Maybe you misheard. Was his name Sans or was his name Red? Did some monsters also use last names?

It didn’t take you long to put everything away, and by the time you were done Mini was in the doorway, looking like she was prepared to drag you out, finished or not. You followed behind her and saw Memaw grinning devilishly over her wine glass at a sweating Sans.

At least you thought his name was Sans. Mini mentioned a monster named ‘Red’ and you wondered if they were the same person.

“Sorry about that,” you said, entering the room.

Sans turned in his seat and stood up at the sight of you.

“I just finished putting the stuff away. Um, thanks again. I didn’t introduce myself.” You held out your hand and mentioned your name before nodding to Mini and Mewmaw. “I’m their grandkid so feel free to call me _kid_ if you need to yell at someone.”

The skeleton stared at your hand a half second longer before reaching for it, grasping it gently. “S-Sans,” he coughed, sounding light. “Sans the skeleton. Nice to meet you.”

You don’t dwell on how nice it is to touch someone again, just to hold hands with someone again after resigning yourself to a month or more of no contact and social distance.Also, aprt from being personally touch starved, it was an interesting experience to shake hands with someone made out of bones. You didn’t mind it.

“Same. Like I said before, really grateful. I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about going out and bringing something back,” you said before dropping his hand to circle the table and pull out a chair.

The table sat four, one on each side. Mini and Memaw sat next to each other while you sat across from Memaw, with Sans on your left and Mini on your right. He was big enough that when he sat down his knee brushed up against yours under the table-not that you minded that either. The guy was big.

He chuckled, ducking his head and hiking his shoulders as if that would make him seem smaller. “It’s…no problem. It’s ah, kinda my job anyway. I make deliveries so…this is kinda all the same.”

“Ya don’t say. That’s gotta be exhausting.”

“Heh…you’re telling me.”He glanced down at the table, watching as Mini filled his plate with food.

When Memaw laughed he glared at her while the space under his eye sockets colored a dusty red shade. It was almost like a blush, but monsters didn’t have blood like humans did, so that confused you a bit until you remembered their magic could also do things like change their color.

Compared to how boisterous he had been earlier, he seemed far more subdued around you, which was a little disappointing. You didn’t want him feel uncomfortable or have to hold back just because you were around. You didn’t mind your Memaw’s rough language or bawdy jokes. You liked it when people (monsters and humans) were comfortable enough to just be themselves without social filters.

“So Red, any new stories since the last time we saw you?” Mini asked, smiling coyly over her plate.

You glanced between Mini and Memaw and then looked over at Sans, confused. “Wait? Is-are you-do you go by Red or Sans? I’m confused.”

You saw him grab for his fork but rub a thumb bone over the length of it like he was nervous abut using it for his food. “I go by both. Sans is ma’ given name but uh, most just know me by Red now.”

“What do you prefer?” you asked.

“Me?” He fidgeted a bit before turning the fork over in hand. “I don’t mind either. I guess I like the sound of Red better being above ground and all.” 

“Red, then.”

You weren’t sure why but you noticed the way his eye lights went fuzzy at the edges, looking like the were going to wobble out of shape but then he swallowed and their edges went clear once more but the color on his cheekbones was still there.

“What about you, a-any nicknames?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, but it’s all over the place, ya know. Different friends different nicknames, stuff like that. None I go by regularly or recently since I’m trapped in with my grans until this quarantine period is over.”

“I don’t see what the fuck you’re sighing about. This is how we live,” Memaw huffed. “You young people are too busy as it is.”

“Sign of the times, boomer,” you teased back.

Memaw grinned back over at you before taking her first forkful. “Sassy pants.”

“Someone needs to wear the pants around here,” you scoffed.

Red and Mini both choked on their laughter at the same moment while Memaw fought to keep her smirk in check. “You’re lucky you’re cute, squirt.”

“I’m also your favorite.”

“Helps when you’re the only grand kid who still talks to us,” Mini sighed, smiling in spite of the true hurt behind her voice.

Memaw rolled her eyes and stabbed at another slice of chicken. “Fuck ‘em, we’re better off without the headache.”

“Memaw you’re a lesbian, you can’t fuck cousin Phil.”

Red and Mini both laughed, not bothering to hide their enjoyment of the banter. Memaw pretended she hadn’t heard you and ate another mouthful. You drank your water and smiled smugly over the rim.

“Damn, this is good Mini,” Red said with a mouthful of Brussels sprouts. “New recipe?”

You were a bit mesmerized with how they seemed to dissapear down his void of a mouth since he was a skeleton with no internal organs or intestine to speak of. Where did his food go if he didn’t have a stomach?

“That’s the kid’s cooking,” Memaw answered instead. Something about the way she looked over at Red made you think she was teasing him but you couldn’t find the joke in her honest words.

Red almost choked and the color on his face bloomed darker. “No shit!” He whipped his head around to look you dead on. “It’s good and I usually hate ma’ veggies.”

“You look the type,”you teased. “It’s the mustard sauce that makes them bearable. Otherwise I wont’ touch the stuff.”

“The both of you are babies,” Memaw huffed.

“Brussel sprouts were cultivated in hell,” you snapped. “Eating them without anything is-”

“-The sensible thing to do,” she cut you off.

“Damn, I hope my taste buds never dry up when I get that old. What a shame, not able to even tell the difference between shit and sugar,” Red loudly whispered, holding his hand up to the side of his mouth.

You smiled at the way he grinned down at you, feeling like a little bit of the filter he threw up around you was coming down.

“The two of you are terrible,” Memaw lamented.

“Terribly brilliant,” you corrected the same time Red said, “ _Thank you_.” You shared a look and then broke down into giggles at the same time.

Red had seconds of your Brussel sprouts and then whined loudly when there wasn’t enough for thirds. You promised him you’d make it for him again if he helped out with the groceries. He told you for dinner he’d even brave the crowds at Costco. You asked him not to risk his life needlessly and from then on the jokes didn’t end. One right after the other he seemed to never run out of awful puns and silly sayings.

The longer and later he stayed the more verbal he grew with you. Before you realized, the sky was dark and the hour was late. Three hours had passed without you noticing. It seemed you were a bit more starved for social interaction than you first thought.

That or you just _really_ liked Red.

You think that even without the quarantine you’d want to spend three hours trading gag jokes and swapping memes. It hadn’t taken him long to ask for your number and after he left the jokes just kept coming.

Instead of being stuck on your phone, watching the news roll out panic heavy updates on the state of the world you were glued to your screen, reading memes about toilet paper and mustard sauces.

To a guy like Red, you found out, mustard was his own personal brand of crack. When you told him you’d make hotdogs tomorrow night he begged you for an invitation, even offering to pay for the groceries.

 **You** : They have hotdog places open still

 **You** : There isn’t anything keeping you from ordering takeout

 **You** : [link.attached]

 **You** : like this place

 **BigRed** : Yeah, but they don’t have that soul

 **BigRed** : Monsters are pussycats for homemade

 **You** : I’ve heard that but I never confirmed

 **BigRed** : Monsters can taste intent

 **BigRed** : we know when sumthin is made w/ love

 **BigRed** : [imag.attached]

You clicked on the meme and made it full sized in order to read the text on both sides. On the top there was a figure rejecting custom text that read: fast food that’s mass produced with no intent. Below it there was another image of the same man smiling and pointing in approval to text that read: homemade meals with love and intent

 **You** : Did you just

 **You** : MAKE your meme

 **BigRed** : [gif.attached]

You chuckled at the moving image of Tina Fay and Amy Poehler high fiving above the text, _Bitches Get Stuff Done_.

 **BigRed** : Me and you

 **You** : Am I Tina or Amy?

 **BigRed** : shit, who’s your fav

 **You** : Have you seen parks n rec? It’s on Netflix

 **BigRed** : Is it a human show?

 **BigRed** : I’ve seen like two human shows and I have no Netflix

 **You** : Come over tomorrow when you’re free-I have the dvds!!!

 **You** : I’ll make dogs and we can binge it

 **You** : It’s funny, I promise! You’ll love it.

 **You** : Pls

There was silence in the message app for almost a solid minute without even any indication that he was typing. It made you worry you had overstepped with your new monster friend.

He was funny and you liked the jokes he made. Plus, your grandmothers both adored him in spite of all their teasing. The fact that Red had been willing to help them out during the quarantine and even volunteered to help others made you think he was a good egg under all that rough exterior.

You checked the app and frowned when it didn’t show anything new another minute later.

Maybe you sounded too pushy?

 **You** : Or you know, I’ll just make dogs.

 **You** : No pressure, lol.

Your fingers hover over the keys. Maybe you should say something about how humans go stir crazy after being locked up. Would that sound like guilt tripping? You didn’t want to make him feel bad. It wasn’t even that. Yeah, you were starved for some social interaction but that didn’t mean you wanted to cook and share your favorite show with just _anyone_.

You…liked Red enough to want to get to know him better.

You looked up from your spot on the couch when you heard a soft knocking on the door. It was so late and no one was up with the quarantine, so you were confused. Still, you shot up and stepped into your slippers before answering the door.

You were surprised to see Red on the doorstep, looking out of breath.

“It died!” he blurted, looking scared.

Your heart skipped a beat, worried for your new friend. Had it been his brother or someone else? Was it one of the neighbors downstairs who-

“My phone! It died, I-it just went out on me, I’m sorry. It-it’s charging now but I couldn’t get back into my messages until it charged but I-the answer is yes!” He took a breath and rubbed at his face. “Sorry for bothering you in the middle of the night. Shit, Memaw was gonna read me the riot act if I woke her up.”

“Red,” you laughed, earning his attention. “It’s fine. I’m crashing on the couch so I’m the only one who heard ya I’m sure. And I’m glad you’re willing to come over but are you okay? You didn’t need to rush over like it was an emergency. Aren’t you tired?”

“ _No_ ,” he lied, looking exhausted and flushed. At least you knew what he looked like when he told a fib. “A-aren’t _you_?”

You were a bit confused by the question since you hadn’t been doing anything except staying on the couch, cooking, and reading. Maybe because it was so late at night?

“I’m fine. Why ya asking?”

Red struggled with a grin that looked half sly have nervous. His eye lights were going fuzzy again and his jaw quivered. He paused a moment longer before swallowing a breath that seemed to steady him.

Still, it looked like he made an effort as he leaned forward, bracing one arm on the door-jam and bending his head down to block out the exterior light. “Just…cause you’ve been running through my head all this time. That’s gotta be _exhausting,_ sweetheart.”

Your heart skipped in your chest and you felt your lips stretching from wide to wider as your cheeks burned.

Oh

_Oh!_

This made more sense now.

You like- _liked_ this clever punning skeleton monster boy. When he started to flirt with you so many things made more sense; his reactions at the dinner table, your butterflies from the texts, how nice holding his hand felt…

“What can I say, it’s an interesting place to be. But I’m more concerned about you getting a leg cramp from running through _my_ headspace all this time.”

“You sure they ain’t sore from dodging corny pick up lines?”

You only grinned wider. “Not yet.”

“I get off work around five.”

“I’ll have dinner ready by then.”

He laughed and it sounded breathy and light, almost as if he was surprised. “Five it is then,” he laughed, grinning wide. “Remember to tie your shoes.”

You were wearing slippers but you had a feeling you understood where his train of thought was going so you decided to indulge him. “Why?”

“I don’t want you falling for anyone else.”


	2. What if: Underfell Papyrus/Edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To help curb your anxiety and restless boredom your grandmother asks you to read her monster friend's attempts at writing. One thing leads to another and now you have a skeleton in leather on the doorstep coming over for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edge was upset he didn't get his own chapter so this happened. A what if alternative senario chapter. This is not a continuation of the first chapter but an alternative.

Alternative Edge Chapter

* * *

You glare at the tenth tab open on your browser, blaming it for your jittery anxieties when really _four_ out of ten tabs were to blame for the same feelings of hopelessness you grappled with. Most of your university work was finished and the stuff that wasn’t could be finished in a little under an hour.

But once you were finished with those last few things….

Then what?

You shut your laptop and save the data for later, knowing you had a limited supply of it as long as you stayed with your grandmothers. There was a neighbor somewhere in the complex who had an open wifi you could hop on but you didn’t trust it or believe in its ability to provide you the streaming speeds necessary for Netflix. You didn’t have a lot of money on the side for extra data fees if you went over.

A soft knock on the office room door drew your attention up. Your grandmother Mini stood in the doorway with a tray in hand. You could see the plate of cookies and glass of milk from where you sat.

“You looked stressed out. Homework giving you any trouble?” she asked, even though she knew better. Mini was too kind to be direct and pick apart the truth without first softening you up with something home baked.

“I finished for tonight. What are those?” you asked.

“Chocolate chunk and chip of course,” she laughed. You moved your laptop to the side to make room on the sewing table for the tray.

“My favorites,” you said, eyeing the extra chunks of chocolate. When Mini baked she spared no expense in making her cookies as unhealthy as possible.

“Don’t worry about hiding these. I was extra careful in making them,” Mini explained. Memaw, your other grandmother, was powerless to berate her wife on _anything_ , but didn’t hold back when it came to you indulging in unhealthy sweets.

“You always know just what I need,” you said, taking one off the plate and reaching for the milk to wash it down with. “I’m going to get fat here.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. I prefer my grand babies a little plump,” Mini cooed, reaching for your cheek to pat.

“You’re the only one,” you playfully pouted.

You wouldn’t lie, it was nice to feel so pampered. Compared to your more traditional parents and home life, staying with your grandmas was as good as it could get during mandated quarantine. The limited internet access was probably a good thing, now that you thought about it. All it did for you was give you more ways to stress out.

“Do you need more reading material?” Mini asked, eyeing your reading stack.

You were reading on average two paperbacks a day and six days in you were ready to switch things up. Unfortunately, without access to a library your options were limited to the harlot romances and badly disguised smut your grandmothers owned. 

“No offense, Grandma Mini, but there’s only so much of this I can trudge through.” To prove your point you reached over and picked up the paperback you had just finished and flipped to a random page and read up to the part where the narrator described the male lead’s ‘meat stick’ in the same sentence as her ‘personal rapture.’

“Ah, so you want something of quality then,” Mini sagely stated, folding her arms and nodding along. “I should have known better. You have very high standards.” 

“No, I’m pretty sure my standards are manageable.”

“That’s to be expected of the youth these days.”

“Please, I just want them to say dick more than once.”

“Back in my day we had to make do with the porn we could get our hands on.”

You shot her a look of pure disbelief. “There are over three hundred different synonyms for the word penis and I think this author used more than half of them. At some point my eyes started to bleed it was so bad-and that’s just the smut I’m criticizing. The male lead is _such_ a pig. At least with the monster smut the romance tried.” You grabbed the book and shook it like that would help make your point. “Established romance is such a cheep cop-out. No, just no-this is-oh stop looking at me like that, you know I’m right.”

“But at least it is working,” Mini said.

“At getting me pissed off?”

“At distracting you,” she gently corrected.

When you didn’t answer right away she reached for your hand and rubbed it between hers. “Don’t think we haven’t noticed. Stir crazy and worried are two different things and neither one is mutually exclusive. This is more than just cabin fever.”

You hated how close to tears you felt. “I hate it,” you whispered with a tight voice. “I can’t do anything and I’m-I’m so powerless in this situation. I have nothing to-I can’t even contribute to making things better because I’m a stupid human that can get others sick. It’s not fair. What's the point of this? Nothing makes sense and I'm no help to anybody. It's not fair-not fair.”

Mini pulled you into her arms for a hug and you let her rock you back and forth as you inhaled lungfuls of her comforting cashmere scent. It made you feel five years old again.

“You have a big heart. No one can fault you for that. It’s hard when you can’t do anything except sit on your own hands and wait for the storm to pass you over. That’s why you should never move into a lighthouse-you’d do terrible with the isolation.”

You laughed, welcoming her subtle humor.

This wasn’t the first good cry since learning about your university’s cancelation, termination of employment, and extended confinement, and likely wasn’t the last. You cried from fear, desperation, anxiety, and grief. You couldn’t help it when you saw the news. But what was worst of all, was how powerless you really were. You wished you could help, even in some small way, but you were broke, human, and damn near useless.

“I have something you could help me with if you’re feeling up to it,” Mini said.

You pulled away and rubbed at your face with your shoulder, fighting the temptation to rub your hands over your trail of tears. “What is it?”

“I mentioned our monster neighbors downstairs who are a part of the The Monster Response Coalition,” she said.

“MRC, I remember you mentioning them.”

“I’m in book club with one of them and he’s tried his hand at writing.” Mini grabbed one of the paperbacks and shook it playfully with a knowing smile. “He’s not _terrible_ but you know how the creative types can be. He doesn’t have a lot of confidence and it might be nice to do something for him since he’s been busy running all over to help out during the shut-in. It might be something you can do to keep your mind off the news too.”

“Something to do?”

“Give him some feedback. He’s open to it but doesn’t think he’s worth the time.”

You remembered your early college days when you had to help out at the ‘Writing Center’ on campus. It had been one of your more bearable jobs since it turned out you had a knack for helping critique and steer students in the right direction. Most of the stuff was essays and literary analysis with the occasional technical paper you could barely make heads or tails out of, but there was a creative writing program that filtered nearly all of their students through you at one point or another.

“Has he published stuff or shared it with you?”you asked.

“It’s all online. I can show you the website where you can download it as a PDF to read without stealing Timothy’s Wiffy.”

“It’s Wi-Fi, Grandma.”

“It’s expensive and overpriced is what it is!”

You humored you grandmother as she pushed you aside and searched online until she found the online writing and publishing website that was free to access for readers and writers alike. A minute later the slow connection loaded a bare profile with one poorly tagged fic to its name.

“Edge?”

“It’s his nickname up here on the surface. But this is the piece, you just need to download it.”

You held your tongue when you saw almost two hundred thousand words and the Explicit rating, not knowing what you would say.

Your queer grandmother was asking you to read and critique her monster friend's 200K porn fic. 

…

Ya know, _why not_?

Its not like you haven’t read the naughty stuff with friends. If it was creepy it’s not like you would have to meet and hang out with the guy. Plus, he was doing a lot of good work helping humans who were stuck indoors while the virus continued to spread.

What could it hurt?

A few hours later Memaw and Mini both called you to dinner but you were glued to your screen. Peeling yourself away to eat was a challenge.

“That bad?” Memaw asked around a yawn.

“Shh, I can’t, I can’t comment yet. I gotta-I uh…I gotta finish,” you mumbled while also trying to concentrate on spooning out vegetables onto your plate without spilling.

“Do you want to take this into the office and eat while reading?” Mini offered. Behind her Memaw scoffed loudly.

“It’s _smut_ , Mini, the kid’s brain is gonna rot overnight.”

“Yes, but it’s Edge’s smut.”

“Not smut, not yet,” you quietly corrected, eyes still unfocused as you stabbed at some chicken to lift out of the glass dish and onto your plate. You dropped the chicken next to the vegetables and looked up to hiss, “The bastard didn’t even tag it as slow burn but I’m halfway through it and they haven’t even _kissed_. What the hell?”

“Yeah, he doesn’t know how to use the tags well.”

You whined playfully, knowing that at least one of your grandmothers would understand what you were feeling. “I’ve been emotionally compromised and I’m gonna go eat my chicken in the study and cry about my feelings for fictional characters if you don’t mind.”

“You go right ahead,” Mini cheered while Memaw flipped you the bird. As you passed her you kissed her on the forehead to appease her.

You finished the story somewhere around 2AM and ended up unable to sleep for another solid hour in spite of the time.

In the morning when Memaw came in to check in on you-finding the couch where you usually slept empty- she discovered you half awake and 1200 words deep into a thoughtful dissertation on the main characters' emotional journey. Not that any of that made sense to Memaw. She picked you up, lifting you with ease in spite of her age, and carried you back out to the couch to tuck in under the blankets.

“Shut up and sleep or else I’m put you in a hold and make you pass out,” she threatened.

“I can’t sleep. I have thoughts.”

Memaw dropped another blanket over your face and turned off the lights, throwing the main living room in a soft darkness behind the black out curtains.

You heard her shuffle out and start to make breakfast for Mini who was still sleeping in, but before you could hear anything else sleep caught up with you and didn’t let you go until well past noon.

After waking you showered, dressed, and went through the robotic routine of getting ‘ready’ for the day even if there was no one else who would appreciate it (apart from your two grandmothers). No one would see your face or hear your voice thanks to the quarantine. 

But that was…okay…because today you had something you absolutely needed to do. Last night you had shot off a handful of reviews for the last few chapters, but those had been nearly incoherent and ruled by pure emotion.

Now, after actually letting you brain sleep, you had enough cognition to actually sit down and thoughtfully critique his work. You could see a few things he needed support on and even an area or two that would benefit from refinement, but the heart of the story was good-damn good.

Since he asked for it in the author's notes, you felt like it would be okay to provide _that_ sort of feedback. Otherwise you would have kept those thoughts to yourself, no matter what Min said. 

You logged on to the free wifi for a handful of minutes but that was enough to send off the first of your three part review, curtailing to what he specifically asked for before adding in extra feedback. He needed to better tag his fic and work on dressing it up. The piece was brilliant, but it got little feedback because of inappropriate tagging. It was like….selling high grade bacon to vegetarians. It was good stuff, but he wasn’t advertising it to the right crowd.

After sending off your comments you spent the day helping out Mini in the kitchen backing and cooking before playing a game of chess with Memaw. To no one’s surprise you lost horribly even after you asked for a rematch in checkers.

There were a few school related items you had to check in on but the day passed largely without issue. You felt the temptation to check the news once more, but unlike previous times you could learn what you needed to and then cut yourself off before the anxiety got to you.

Before bed you reread more of Edge’s fic, or you start to at least. One of the comments you left had a reply already. You clicked it open and read his gushy thanks, grinning more and more the longer you read.

_“Honestly I wasn’t sure what to expect when you prefaced that your grandmother recommended you my work.”_

He sounded so genuine and sweet. It was impossible not to send him back another comment validating his work. He was a good writer but he seemed to lack confidence.

You didn’t expect to get a reply to your reply an hour later.

You also didn’t expect to get a privet message.

A day later you both had each others number and were regularly exchanging book, music, and movie recommendations. That turned into a conversation about food, and _that_ turned into a conversation about work and _that_ turned into a conversation about school and _that_ turned into a conversation about family and _that_ turned into a conversation that went all over the place.

Somehow two days passed like that.

“We should have him for dinner,” Mini said over breakfast the next morning.

Something in your chest jumped a little and you couldn’t help but grin wide. It had been days since you last saw someone beside your grandmothers. Talking over text was neat but speaking face to face with someone as neat as Papyrus was even better. After ten days of isolation you’d be happy to see anyone but the fact that Mini was talking about ‘your’ Papyrus made it all the sweeter.

“He won’t be too busy?” you asked in a hopeful tone.

“He’s busy, but he needs to take a break for himself sometimes too. I can boss him into it so just leave it to me. You can make the sides tonight, can’t you?”

“What do you want me to make?”

“Veggies should be fine,” Mini said, reaching for her dinosaur of a flip phone.

“That won’t take long at all. What about desert? Do you have something in mind?”you asked, already thinking about what you could bake. Would a loaf be better, or maybe cookies? Did Edge drink coffee? Maybe a crumb cake would be better.

“Well, he’s coming over at five some pick something out you can have ready by then,” Mini said without looking up from her flip phone.

You glared at the clock seeing it was only one in the afternoon. You had plenty of time to plan, prep, and bake something. “That doesn’t help me narrow it down at all. What does he like?”

“Sweet things,” Mini answered.

“More specifically?”

“Homemade sweet things? I’m not sure, you’re the one who talks to him all the time,” Mini laughed like there was some joke you just weren’t getting.

“Hell, kid,just ask him yourself,” Memaw interjected. “You’re not gonna get any satisfaction with second hand stories.”

You cleaned up the kitchen and pulled down some basic ingredients, taking stock of what you had left. You were due for a delivery in another day so you’d have to make whatever you had on hand last until then. After checking to make sure Mini was done texting you sent off your own.

You: What desert do you like?

You: *dessert-the food kind

You: my fingers don’t know how to spell.

A few minutes later you got a ping from your message inbox. When you opened the app you saw there was a reply from Papyrus waiting for you.

Edge: anything homemade

You: you need to be more specific

Edge: But that’s it?

Edge: I like anything homemade

You: That’s not an answer

Edge: I like everything that’s homemade?

You: Cookies or cakes?

Edge: Oh, I hate this game.

Edge: Obviously it depends on the cookies and cakes.

You: Come on, give me something to work with here. I’m making dessert rn

You: rn means right now

Edge: I am envious of whoever gets to eat your homemade dessert

Edge: I’m sure they’ll like whatever it is you make for them

You paused, staring down at the text on your phone. The longer you stared at it the less sense it made. Did…did he not know you were…did he not know you were living in the apartment above him?

You: Edge, you know I found you through my grandmother’s rec, right???

Edge: A sensible if a bit misguided women I’m sure. What grandmother recommends such trash to their offspring?

You: It was not trash-you take that back rn!

Edge: I meant in terms of category! It was risqué material I wouldn’t want to expose my _children_ to!

You: I'm an adult! There wasn’t even any graphic sex?! WTF-

You: that’s not what I wanna say.

You: I told you my grandmother showed me the fic first. Do you remember that?

Edge: Yes?

You: My grandmother invited you over for dinner tonight at five

You: I’m literally making desert for you right now

You: *dessert

You: I swear I know how to spell.

A minute passed and you could see that your message had been delivered and read, but there was no reply. You waited a minute more, playing with the ingredients while your phone’s screen light went dim from inactivity.

Two minutes more there was nothing.

That was plenty of time for you to worry and hyper analyze every moment of interaction. The dude was probably freaking out a little and that was fair, you _had_ thrown him for a loop if he hadn’t been able to piece the clues together by now. Everybody processed at different rates and that was fine, that was cool, you were fine, you were cool.

Maybe he was uncomfortable with the thought of you being present at dinner. You had only been talking a few days, maybe that wasn’t enough time for him to be comfortable with you? Or maybe it was because of his work. You had read something special and intimate to him and now you were meeting face to face. Was that weird? Were you weird? Was he okay?

You: Please, Edge, I just need to know what you’d prefer for dessert

You: I’m sorry if I freaked you out

You: If you feel uncomfortable coming I’ll let Mini know

The phone screen went dim and then turned off on its own but you still held it like it was something to look at. Your hands felt shaky and there was something in your throat you needed to swallow down but couldn’t. It made your eyes sting and your lungs pinch.

Just when you thought you were going to spiral a blip between your hands snapped you out of it. There was a message from Edge.

Edge: I’m coming and I will bring the groceries!

And nothing else

You set you phone off to the side and turn the oven on to preheat. Before it could reach the desired temperature you had all the ingredients for banana bread mixed and a baking tin coated. The oven chimed, singling it was ready just as you finished pouring the batter into the tin. You slid that in and set the timer for an hour. That would be plenty of time to mix things up for chocolate chip cookies and a bathroom break. Maybe you’d have a quick meltdown in between, eh, who knows.

By the time five o clock rolled around you had changed your outfit six times and fussed over your face way more than you would on any other regular day-even the ones before quarantine!

“Kido, the veggies,” Memaw growled, shooing you out of the hallway and back into the kitchen.

“They’re fine, I have it on low,” you grumbled back.

“Then calm down and quit wearing a fucking hole in my floor,” she said just as a loud commotion outside drew her attention to the door.

You could hear it too. There were at least two different voices outside arguing. You didn’t recognize either but Memaw seemed to know better since she got up and opened the front door with a small bang.

“Shut the fuck up you jiggle bone wannabes. Sans, I swear to fuck if you’re bothering your brother again-”

“I was just leaving witch lady,” another voice laughed.

“Then make like a fart and blow this shit hole.”

“Ah, I think I’ll make like a dick and beat it instead old lady,” the voice teased in good nature.

A third voice made a strangled sort of sound you could relate to as your grandmother met her match in the dirty pun-ster. A half second later you realized why the name Sans was familiar. _Papyrus_ had texted you about his brother Sans.

Papyrus had a brother named Sans.

Sans was right outside the door.

 _Papyrus_ was right outside the door.

Holy shit!

Robotically you moved the veggies off the burner and turned the flame off before kneeling down to practice deep breathing. In and out.

 _Papyrus_ _was right outside the door right now and he was going to come insidewhydidyoufeellikethis?!!_

 _“_ Honey, say goodby to Sans the right way and let Papyrus in,” Mini gently chastised her wife before addressing the monsters on her doorstep. “And again, thank you boys for all the help you provide other humans with during these times. Sans, do you want to stay as well?”

“Ah, I’d love ta-”

“He can’t!”the other voice interrupted. “He’s still making deliveries. This was just one of them on his very _long_ and extensive list that will last him _all_ night.”

"All night?"

"All night!"

“I mean I could take a br-ahwow, ow, I mean yeah, I’m real busy. Ooof. Yeah, better head out. Maybe next time, my favorite sissor sisters.”

“Sans that is derogatory!”

“But I said they were mah favorite.”

“You think I give a fuck, Papyrus?” Memaw asked in a neutral tone that made you think she was enjoying herself. “The little shit couldn’t insult me if he tried.”

If you thought breathing was hard before now it was even worse. Why the hell did your heart hurt and why was it beating so fast? You were having shortness of breath, did that mean you were sick? You were fine just a second ago. It was only after you heard about Papyrus that you started to lose it.

 _‘Oh please do not be what I think this is,_ ’ you mentally chanted. 

Papyrus was a nice…monster…friend…who probably wasn’t interested in humans like _that_. At least, not in real life…Never mind his 200K slow burn fluff fic was about a human monster relationship beating all the odds because they were star crossed soul mate lovers. Fiction and reality were two different things. You had written plenty of fiction about shit you’d never consider or condone.

It wasn’t-there wasn’t a reason for you to get this worked up. Besides even if he _was_ interested in humans it didn’t mean he was interested in _you_. Hell, you didn’t even know what gender or sex he preferred.

You’d be fine.

“Hurry up and get your boney ass inside Papyrus. I’ll take your damn bags,” Memaw loudly stated.

“Why did you bring a succulent plant?” Mini asked.

You could hear the three of them walk in and the door shut behind them. They were just around the corner when Papyrus-the only other voice that didn’t belong to your grandmothers-said your name.

“Flowers are a traditional gift for this sort of occasion but your grandchild mentioned once how these plants were more desirable,” he said.

His voice was… _nice_. A little clipped and proper, sharp but strong.

Then the three of them rounded the corner and your heart nearly bottomed out. Papyrus noticed you and immediately straightened, standing at his full hight. Like a machine you noticed all the different details and aspects of him in a moment, processing none of it.

He was nearly tall enough to touch the ceiling and dressed in black, distressed jeans, a studded belt, a tastefully torn Black Sabbath band tee over a white undershirt and a neat leather jacket with studs on the shoulders that matched his belt and boots. One of his eye sockets was scarred with a gash that cut through the socket and extended an inch out above and below. Still, the read beads of his eye lights found you without hesitation.

You felt stuck in place.

Then he said you name and hesitantly approached, holding out the baby succulent in a mint green pot. “For you. Th-thank you for the invitation to din-dinner and desert. I’m-” He swallowed which didn’t make sense because he didn’t have a throat but okay? “I’m looking forward to tasting your baking.”

Sluggishly you brain started to boot and compute the incoming data. In the background Memaw and Mini were smily coyly to one another like the were in on some big secret, but Papyrus was still in front of you…stuttering…and….blushing??!

With robotic motions you reached out to accept the plant. “I hope you like it. I made banana bread and cookies.”

“Those are exactly my favorite.”

“You didn’t tell me that before I baked them!”

“That’s because I didn’t know they were my favorite until you just said you baked them.” Then he smiled and laughed but it sounded more like something Skeletor from the He-Man cartoons would say, coming out like a breathy _nyeh heh heeh_.

“Well, you have to try them first.”

There was still a dusting of red on his cheeks but he looked you in the eye with a wide smile that seemed far too honest while still being made out of fangs. “I can’t wait!” 

You nodded stiffly and tried to reel in your thoughts but they all came circling back to one, glaring, undeniable, horrible truth that demanded to be acknowledged:

_‘Holy fuck, how is he so hot?!’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My hand slipped and the idea came to me even though I meant for this to be a single chapter oneshot! I blame all you. How dare you just overwhelm me in positive validation and comments. Don't you know what that does to writers? 
> 
> After thinking it over I had the idea for this Papyrus chapter and then another, third, chapter that's a poly one (so you thirsty Red fans can get some more of your boi). I should have that one out in a couple of days, maybe by Monday? We shall see. Check back here for a little RedReadEdge sandwich. 
> 
> Stay safe, stay indoors, and stay determined you beautiful people. 
> 
> (Also, is there anything more relatable than staying up till 2AM reading fanfiction?)


	3. What If: Poly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if: Poly Chapter  
> You end up enjoying a RedReaderEdge sandwich

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Chapter contains brief mentions of toxic parents and some antiLGBTQA themes by antagonists in the story. If either of those things is a personal trigger please be mindful about proceeding.

You washed off your hands, humming to yourself the old lyrics to a SmashMouth song until your hands were clean. ‘ _I ain’t the sharpest tool in the sheeeed._ ’ You dried off on the hand towel and headed outside to rejoin the group at the table. It sounded like Memaw was going to head to bed early while Grandma Mini stayed up for one more round of Forbidden Island the board game. 

Memaw passed you in the hallway and ruffled at your hair, turning it into a mess before she passed. You protested weakly and made little effort to straighten out before stealing her seat at the table next to Red and across from Edge.

“C'mere,” Red snorted once he saw you.

He reached up and finger combed your hair back into place just like you knew he would if you left your mess alone. For being such a slob he had an uncanny habit of fussing over you. If he had been an animal you’d call it grooming, but wrote it off as some sort of monster thing.

“Have we picked out roles yet?”

“No,” Edge answered you, eyeing his brother suspiciously. “But we should figure out who wants to be the diver and pilot before anyone else picks a job.”

“Agreed,” Mini echoed. “I don’t want to drown again.”

“Sorry bout dat,” Red rumbled bashfully. “Won’t happen again, Mini.”

You sat back in your seat and observed the assembled group, relaxing into the sense of familiarity that came with game night. It hadn’t been a longstanding tradition, but after spending so long in isolation it felt like you had been doing this for forever.

Red and Edge were both monsters who worked during the day on The Monster Response Coalition that worked to help out in filling needs as they arose. Monsters were lucky in that they couldn’t catch or carry the spreading disease that had everyone else hunkering down. Something about being made out of hopes, dreams, and magic just didn’t translate with viral languages. Lucky for you all, there was someone out there holding society together while more and more humans bunkered down across the globe.

Edge spent much of his time in the hospitals while Red had the ability to use his magic to transport himself and life saving supplies in the blink of an eye. A lot of the time he used it to run simple errands, but both brothers tapped out hard after a full day. Once their magic was used up that was it and they needed to recharge.

You were really honored that they both ended up coming to you for that recharge time.

After having to stay with your grandmothers once your university kicked you out, you had thought you ability to interact socially with others was a thing of the past. Red and Edge were lifesavers in more ways than one.

“Yes, team monster saving the day!” Red cheered before snatching up the pilot card for his role in the game.

Edge huffed and accepted the Diver role from Mini before looking to you. “You may choose any other job you like now that the essential ones are accounted for.”

“How generous,” Mini teased, fluttering her lashes coyly. Predictably, Edge’s cheekbones flushed with a pinkish red color and he started to stutter. 

The board game, Forbidden Island, was one Red had picked up while out running errands and it was one of the few games you all played together more than once. Considering he came back one time with the _Pandemic_ board game, you thought this was a more appropriate distraction. You’d rather be trying to rescue four ancient artifacts off a sinking island by working together than playing any game that mimicked reality so closely.

You reached for one of the cookies and began to nibble on it before asking Edge to pick out the best role for you.

“You expect others to do a great deal for you,” Edge huffed before taking the cards and sorting through them.

“Not others, just you guys. Out of all of us you paid the most attention to the dynamics of the last game and you’re the one that came up with the best strategy. It makes sense to rely on you, doesn’t it?”

Edge fumbled with the cards before dropping one down in front of you and stiffly replacing the remainder back in the game board box. Instead of talking back he mumbled under his breath and nervously shuffled one of the draw decks. Mini found this hilarious for some reason.

“Something botherin’ ya boss?” Red asked, faking nonchalance as he looked over his cards with a smirk that matched his eye lights. 

Edge made a sound of displeasure and straighten out in his seat, towering over the rest of you. Even among other monsters he was intimidating in terms of just height. “Don’t be purposefully antagonistic, Sans. Put your cards down so we can all see.”

“Aw, ain’t my aim to _rattle_ yer bones, boss.”

“Sans!”

“Grandma Mini will you go first?” you interrupted, leaning against the table like you were ready to stop the boys from getting to blows. Mini laughed fondly, used to the bickering after nearly a year of being their friend and upstairs neighbor.

Unlike the first game you played, this time you had a better idea of what to expect and how to work _with_ the mechanics of the game instead of against them. Different parts of the island started to sink each turn as the water level rose and Edge encouraged you to abandon the areas you could live without instead of wasting your energies on shoring up every part you came across; which was your main problem in the last game. You wanted to fix all the sinking tiles and save all the different parts of the island, but it just wasn’t plausible.

Eventually you all got to the landing pad and Red dramatically played a card that airlifted you all off the island with all four of the treasures and no lives lost-even if most of the island had been.

“Not bad,” Red complemented as he took the last of the brownies for himself. “That game was almost… as _sweet_ as sweetheart’s dessert.” Then with a wide smile and a spark to his eye lights he threw back the brownie and slid the empty dessert plate across the board to his brother.

“You ate all of them?” Edge gasped, standing suddenly.

“You were busy,” Red said before burping.

“ _Sans_!”

“It’s okay, Edge, I have more.” You stood and moved out from around your chair. “If you don’t mind cleaning the game up I’ll bring out the rest of the dessert.”

“It’s too late for me, my cute little beans,” Mini sighed. “I’m heading to bed. The three of you can stay up as late as you want but remember _some_ of you have work in the morning.” She then looked purposefully at you. “Don’t hog the boys all night long.”

You really could have lived without the dubious wording of Mini’s warning. She made it seem like-like you were up to naughty things at night with the two of them or something! And she knew it. She knew how her words came out and what they sounded like as well as what they implied. She knew but she refused to quit teasing you about it.

“I’m sure this isn’t the first time we’ve explained this to you, but monsters need far less sleep than their human counterparts. We recharge our magic naturally over time and it doesn’t refill faster if we’re asleep,” Edge said.

“I’m sure it doesn’t do you any favors to get so emotionally taxed every night,” Mini teased before reaching over to kiss the side of Edge’s skull and then move over to Red to do the same. “We worry about you boys. Prioritize your health a little bit more. You’re important too.”

“Trust me, Mini Mouse, your digs are plenty restful and the food is without match. I’d kill to eat like this everyday,” Red said.

“You do eat like this every day,” Mini laughed. 

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t need to go Jack the Ripper for some of yer magic Brussel spouts,” Red said. 

“They’re not magic,” you gently corrected, secretly pleased with the praise of your dish.

“They’re magic to me, sweets,” Red all but purred.“Sleep is great for healing HP but food is the cure all-I can recover my magic _and_ my HP all at once.”

“Your HP is fine, you didn’t need to eat all the brownies,” Edge complained.

He sounded less like the scary, prickly bad boy monster he dressed up as and more like the soft younger brother who could launch into a rant at a moment’s notice about something as silly as ‘t _he romance of the hand clench in 2005’s Pride and Prejudice cinematic masterpiece and its significance in shaping visual representations of attracting in media_.’ But if you let him launch into _that_ rant you’d have to listen to him go on for another fifteen minutes about how everybody else in modern media lacked class. The boy was a romantic at heart deep down and he just wore too much leather to see it on the surface.

You remembered finding his fiction published online, thanks to a link from Mini, and spending nearly two days working through it only to have your own personal meltdown on how his slow burn killed you. The funny bones thought he was writing smut because the main characters kissed…with tongue! You weren’t sure how he survived book club with Mini; all they read was smut!

“I’ve got extra crumb cake here. Did either of you want coffee or tea? Memaw has a Kurig,” you said.

“Don’t bother with me, I can get it myself. I’ll take something decaf if ya got it,” Red said, standing to pick through the carousel of coffee pods.

“If you’re making tea I’ll gladly take some,” Edge said.

There was a kettle filled with water on the stove that had grown lukewarm without a flame. You turned on the burner and pulled down a pair of mugs and then the mason jar of honey. Edge reached over you to grab the sugar container, bracing one hand on your shoulder while he leaned. The both of you picked out teas for yourself from Mini’s collection and got your mugs ready for whenever the water decided to scream.

Even though the coffee was on the other end of the counter Red shuffled over to you and stopped at your side. “So,” he drawled. “What did ja have in mind for movie night?”

“You didn’t bring anything?”

“It’s your turn to pick, sweets.”

You smirked. “It’s kinda lames but you should appreciate it, Red. Memaw has a collection of old Hitchcock films I thought we could go through and pick one out-just as long as it’s not Rear Window.”

“What’s wrong with Rear Window?” Red asked, eye lights flashing with mirth.

“It’s about a guy who’s confined to his apartment because of an injury and-I don’t know-it used to be my favorite but the guy’s trapped in his home and I feel like that’s…”

Your throat felt tight and your hands shook a little bit in spite of your best efforts. You forced yourself to laugh but it came out sounding painfully fake, even to your own ears.

“There are others,” Red was quick to blurt, reaching for your hand just as Edge shifted his to rest atop your shoulder. “Forget about the window movie. Let’s watch a scary one. That dude Al is a fan of the scary, ain’t he?”

“He’s a cinematic legend in human terms,” Edge scoffed.

“Yeah but he’s legendary for the scares and I say I’m in for that. A little make believe scare right before bed is perfect,” Red chuckled darkly. “Everybody says that.”

“Literally no one says that,” Edge sighed.

“Well, I like Sweet’s idea so you’re outvoted baby bro,” Red said.“Topside’s a democracy now!”

“It’s a mess is what it is,” Edge mumbled with a withering stare to match.

“We don’t have to watch _Psycho_ ,” you said, reaching up to touch the back of Edge’s hand left on your shoulder. “ _The Birds_ is a little bit more tame.”

“How terrifying can a few birds be?” Red scoffed, sounding disappointed.

“They’re old movies, don’t exhaust your expectations,” you joked, jutting out your hip to knock against his. He knocked back and you chuckled.

The kettle chose that moment to scream and you moved to pour hot water for your and Edge’s teas. Red inserted his coffee pod into the device and selected the cup size he wanted. Moments later it started to fall his mug with a dark, decaf roast.

Edge carried the crumb cake to the living room and set it on the coffee table next to the short stack of dessert plates. He was the one that started cutting and serving while you set up the television to play one of the old DVDs. When you were done the brothers had left a human sized space on the couch between them that was perfect for you to fit into. Red passed over one of Mini’s knitted blankets and between him and edge the boys were able to unfold it and lay it across all three of you.

The movie rolled on and you finished off your tea and cake, mindful of every time you moved. Edge seemed to be enjoying the film while Red struggled with his impatience, waiting for someone to blow up or scream earlier on. You reached for his hand under the blanket and he went oddly still before melting a bit against your side, shifting so his shoulder touched yours.

You closed your eyes for only a minute but when you opened them again the movie credits were rolling. Your head felt fuzzy, like it was on the edge of sleep and waking. You made a small noise and beside you Red shifted until you were little more than propped up on his side while Edge got up to shut off the television. You saw him standing in front of the black and white screen and the soft glow made all his harsh features just a bit softer.

“Ya need your sleep more than me and the boss do, sweets,” Red rumbled in your ear. You could feel the way his breath made the mess of hair around your ear tremble. He was trying to be quiet, but somehow that only made his voice vibrate deeper in your bones.

Someone really needed to tell him his voice should be illegal.

You felt it when he chuckled and wondered if you had said that last bit out loud.

“What is it?” Edge whispered too loudly to be considered quiet.

“Dunno, but their mumbling was kinda cute.”

“It’s so late. We shouldn’t have intrudedon their hospitality so long,” Edge said while the televisions light turned off. The room turned black and only their eye lights bobbed in the darkness.

The rest was a blur but you felt someone pick you up like you weighed nothing and hold you against something solid and warm. When you inhaled you didn’t have the mind to distinguish the smell beyond how pleasant it was.

You were lowered down atop the couch and you naturally turned, familiar with where you had been sleeping for weeks now. There was a weight over you that tickled you under your nose. There were noises and then someone adjusted the blanket over you so that it tucked in at the corners.

There were more voices, what sounded like a hiss of whispers, and then soft silence. Someone applied pressure against your skull and then there was nothing-not even memory. 

You woke late and showered before either of your grandmothers could see you or your face. Under the steady stream of scalding water you hoped the evidence of your night terrors were washed away.

“You should do it,” Mini said.

In your hand you held your phone with the text message app still open.

“You’re…okay with me sleeping over at their house tomorrow night? Aren’t you supposed to be worried about protecting my innocence?”

“What innocence?” Memaw gaffed. “Purity and virginity are both social constructs and we don’t believe in either in this house.”

“What she means is we trust you to be an adult and make your own decisions. Red and Edge are both trustworthy and kind. Plus, we’ve already had a talk with them months back about how important it is to use protection.” 

“Eww, grandma!” you cried, flapping your free hand. “Gross. I don’t want to know that. It’s not like I’m dating either of them and we’re just going to be-it’s just us being friends. Don’t make it weird.”

“Someone sounds like they’re living in Egypt,” Memaw hummed over the rim of her whiskey glass. AS she tipped it back you could hear the last word she uttered before drowning it in booze; _denial_.

“I’m not in denial. We’re friends. That’s it! And it’s not like I’d feel-it’s-you got my head all messed up now,” you said, running a hand over the shape of your skull through your hair. You wanted to rub at your face but you fought the urge. “Neither of them have those sort of feelings for me.”

“Is neither the same as ‘both’ in your dictionary, baby?” Mini asked in a fake confused tone. Her wife only grinned wider and reached for Mini to cuddle closer. You rolled your eyes and looked away while they had a brief moment.

“You two have overactive imaginations.”

“And eyes,” Memaw interjected.

“We’re not blind, we can see the way they treat you,” Mini added more gently. “Don’t forget, we’ve known these boys a good long while now and we known how they normally act and behave with humans.”

You looked down at your phone and flipped it over in your hands, turning the screen off. “I don’t want to think of them like that. I like them both and they’re good friends, plus they’re brothers. I don’t want to ruin what we have right now.”

“You probably wouldn’t.”

You glared weakly at your grandmother Memaw. Predictably, she didn’t flinch.

“That’s not helpful,” you said.

“It was honest, and that’s what you need right now. They’re brothers but they’re also monsters who have survived as long and well as can be expected. They’ve got good communication going between the both of them. They’ll be fine no matter what you decide to do,” Memaw said.

“For now, just tell them if you want to visit. It would be good for you to get out of the house at least, and their apartment is as safe as any other,” Mini encouraged. “They can’t even catch it on their clothes because of magic!”

You flipped your phone over and stared down at the screen, tapping it to light it back up. You clicked through and started to type out a reply. Once it sent you winced at the timestamp. That had taken you a while to answer, hopefully Red wasn’t holding his breath.

Below Red the last person you had texted was Edge, but beyond him was a long list of family members who had left you on read, most noticeably your parents.

“I’m going to try calling my folks again,” you said, not meaning to sound as soft and thin as you sounded. Mini visibly reacted while Memaw just frowned. Before either could say anything you left the room to shut yourself up in the sewing room and dial for your mom.

It rang…

And rang…

And then it went to voicemail….again.

You recorded another message, your third one, telling them you were fine like the last time you called to leave a message before asking how they were.

“I’m starting to get a little worried. I don’t have any other way to contact you so I don’t know. I hope you’re both safe. Please let me know.”

With nothing else to do you hung up and sat down on the floor, back to the wall and knees to your chest. You grabbed yourself and tried one more time.

Your dad was no better. Still, you left the same damn voicemail and hung up.

You debated on it but then decided to try your more distant relatives, the aunts and uncles and cousins you hadn’t spoken to since….high school. Once you became an adult things got harder to maintain.

One after the other, left you on a dial tone or the same beep that came before asking for you to leave a message.

You lost track of how many times you said the same damn things. “I’m worried for you and hope you’re all alright. Stay safe.”

When you ran out of names you turned to social media, trying to track some of the younger cousins down through their online presence. It was hard because you didn’t follow any of them and you didn’t even have an account to some of the sites, but you managed to find one cousin’s twitter complaining about no more restaurant night outings and a few more retweets of famous celebrities. You tried to cross through for any additional information, but apart form knowing your cousin was alive to complain about food and toilet paper seven hours ago…your search yielded no results.

They were…probably fine. In their area it was pretty rural and you were keeping track of the number of cases and deaths using the CDC state-based website. It was highly unlikely they were tied up in the outbreak. They were almost assuredly fine.

So why weren’t they talking to you?

You called again. When you got to the part asking for you to leave a message you hung up and called again and again. You were draining your cell’s battery but you found somewhere inside you the anger to push on and keep calling and calling and calling. They weren’t rejecting your calls, so you knew they had to hear that same annoying ringtone again and again every time you made an attempt. You refused to be the one who gave up first.

Somewhere between sixteen and eighteen calls one of them got through.

“What?!” your mother harshly barked.

She had picked up!

“Mom, are you okay? Are you guys all okay? I couldn’t get in touch with you and none of my messages were getting answered so I was worried.”

“Why?”

The room around you is suddenly tilted to one side as you start to reel, sliding down the wall. You can hear blood rushing in your ears and you brace against the floor to keep yourself upright. You felt cold but it wasn’t a fault the temperature of the room could be blamed for.

“Mom…?” you breathed, too afraid to say more.

“You didn’t care when we tried to bring you back home. You didn’t care enough to listen when we asked you to make better choices. We were willing to risk so much for you and put ourselves in danger for you but what was that for?”

“Mom, that wasn’t a good idea for any of us. Grandma Mini was already here in the same city. It made sense to-”

“She’s not your grandmother!”

You felt a lump in your throat and closed your eyes. “Mom, she is. I’m safe here. I’m doing fine. Nothing is wrong or dangerous like you were worried about.”

“We talked to you about this and you made a promise but you broke it when you chose them over us.”

“I didn’t choose them over-”

“You did!” she snapped, cutting you off.

You knew you weren’t supposed to but you reached up to rub at your face and smear the tears away. They came harder and faster now that the thing you dreamed about came true.

“Mom…”

“Don’t call us again. You’ve made your choice.”

“Mom, don’t-”

Then the line went dead. 

“Please,” you whispered into your phone, knowing it was an empty effort. The word felt too big to fit in your mouth and you ended up spilling more and more little cries and please for ‘ _please mom, no, please listen, I love you too, please, I’m not trying to embarrass you_ -’

Your phone started to beep so you dropped it and slid the rest of the way down the wall, landing on the carpet and curling up like a cat. You felt like if you didn’t hold yourself you’d fall apart and shatter all over the carpet.

Why was it so hard? Every time you fought with them it was their way or the highway and you always caved…until you didn’t. You couldn’t. Mini didn’t deserve it. She was your grandmother and Memaw was her wife. They were your family.

So why did it have to hurt so damn much?!

You felt a hand on your shoulder and then Memaw was turning you over to better pick you up. For as old as she was she was still as fit as a bull and the definition under her flannel was further proof.

She carried you out to the couch where Mini was ready with a glass of water. You pushed it away at first but Memaw insisted, barking about how you cried out an entire liter onto their carpet already.

Mini draped the comforter over your shoulders and gently coaxed you back onto the pillow before tucking you in. You could hear her coo gently about how much she loved you and how you were safe in her house and everything was going to be okay.

You closed your eyes, more to squeeze out the tears and block out the sights than because you needed sleep, but Memaw still drew shut the blackout curtains.

“I’m going to kill them.”

“You can’t survive jail time, baby.”

“They made my two favorite people cry.”

“Stay with her. I’m…I’m going to bake something nice.”

You faded in and out, recognizing the sound of The Twilight Zone with Rod Serling as it opened one new episode after another. You watched a little bit from under the blanket before drifting off again.

The next morning you woke up feeling worse than hungover but showered and got dressed like it was any other day. You rubbed extra hard at your face with the scrub, hoping to come out feeling clean.

That evening you were planning on having dinner at the boy’s home and sleeping over. You had to…you needed to get read for that. You were looking forward to that.

When you checked your phone you saw a few unread texts and clicked through to see they were from Red and Edge. At some point they must have heard something from Mini since they both mentioned something along the lines of ‘hope you feel better’ and ‘get plenty of rest and don’t forget to drink your water!’

You hoped you wouldn’t have to explain yourself.

You sent Red a meme and played it off then thanked Edge for his concern. You closed your phone after shooting the both of them a text that said you would be busy with new school work.

When you looked up the mirror there, reflecting back your expression in unfiltered clarity. Wow, you looked like you could benefit from some work. Or maybe you were fine and your mind was your own worst enemy.

You spent you time putting some of your things together for the sleepover and helping Mini in the kitchen. There was plenty already baked, but the boys always seemed to enjoy it more when you baked for them. Something about human intent being the secret ingredient that drove all monsters crazy.

They’d be providing dinner but you could always bring dessert.

Hours later you sat down at the table to help Mini with one of her puzzles. They weren’t really your thing but you unexpectedly found yourself enjoying it more than you thought you would. You had a knack for finding missing pieces based off color gradient.

“Feeling better?” Mini asked you after another piece clipped into place. The sound they made when they fit was one of your favorites.

“I’m going great, doing great,” you hummed.

“You’re trying too hard to sound upbeat.”

“I am upbeat!”

“Trying too hard.”

You put the puzzle piece in your hand back in the pile. “I’m…honestly I’m fine, and fine doesn’t mean good, it means I’m able to manage. It sucks, yeah, but we’ve talked about this before. This isn’t the first time they’ve said shit like that. It’ll blow over.”

“You don’t need to wait for it.” Mini tried to fit a piece in but it was wrong for the space she had in mind. “We have a sewing room but neither of us sews. Plus, it doesn’t sound too difficult to sign up for that wiffy.”

“It’s Wifi.”

“It’s overpriced is what it is!”

This wasn’t the first time you had heard your grandmother respond in such a way. The familiarity was comforting enough to be tempting.

“I don’t know what my life is going to look like after this pandemic.”

“You’ll always have us. Once this blows over, and it will, just like how every evil thing in this world does, you’ll have people who love you unconditionally waiting to embrace you.” Mini moved to reach across the table and take your hands. “Baby, you will always have a place in our home. We love you to the moon and back.”

“Thanks, Grandma.”

She grinned wide. “Plus, we got two cute neighbors downstairs who would be tickled _pink_ if you decided to move in.”

“Grandma!”

And like that had been the magic spell, static crackled in the kitchen and you heard the familiar pop as Sans appeared via shortcut. He blinked and then zeroed in on where you were, crossing the small kitchen to reach your side. Hands in his pockets and a rakish grin on his skull face you felt some of your anxieties begin to melt at the sight of him.

“Red!” you exclaimed. “What are you doing here so early? Edge-I thought you didn’t get off until five. What about waiting for your brother?”

“I rushed through most of my work extra early. You woulda been proud of me, I got up early and everything so I could see you sooner.” He smiled wide and then you noticed something like a nervous beat of magic gathering at the base of his skull. “You disappointed my bro ain’t off yet?”

“That’s fine,” you chuckled. “I was just surprised. Hang on though, I need to pick up my stuff.”

You stood from your seat at the kitchen table and pat his arm as you passed. When you moved Red moved in tandem, trying to keep close to you even after you moved away. “You can borrow clothes, ya don’t gotta worry about them pjs.”

“Ew no, I’ll make them smell like me,” you complained over your shoulder.

“What’s the problem in that?”

You just laughed. “It’s all packed up, I just need to grab it.”

“Don’t worry,” Mini whispered too loudly to go unheard while she spoke to Sans even though you didn’t hear the middle part. “-ve been looking forward to it all day.”

You recognized Sans’ nervous chuckle and that struck you into stopping in place. Since when had you been able to distinguish his different laughs and chuckles? You knew when he was being purposefully annoying, or worried, or genuine-you knew those different sides of Sans way better than you knew the sides to other people.

Weird.

“Ready to go sweets?” Red asked, sliding up to your side and leaning in. “Mini packed me a goodie bag and it smells like your handiwork.”

“You’re not allowed to open it until Edge comes home, otherwise you’ll eat the whole thing yourself,” you said.

“Ah damn, you know me too well. If I ate everything before he came back he’d never have to know.”

“I’d know. You think I wouldn’t rat you out?” you scoffed jokingly.

“You _wouldn’t_ ,” Red gasped in mock dramatics. “I can’t do time with a face like this.”

“I wouldn’t let it go that far, you’re too important to spare. Who else would I beat at Uno?”

“Don’t remind me. I’m not normally so shite at cards. Remind me I gotta teach you poker sometime. That’s a _real_ card game with real strategy and stakes.”

It’s too easy to laugh at Red’s playfully frustrated expression. You feel more and more of the worries you wore like layers fall off your shoulders. “Uno _is_ a real card game. What do you think we play with, fish chips?”

“Nothing is real that requires you to loose with twenty-five fucking cards drawn in a single move. What the hell is up with your damn sharpie rules?” He reached for your face and ran his hand over your expression in a mock attempt of ‘wiping’ away your smile. It did nothing but make you all the more delighted. “Quit it,” he playfully complained.

“Are you two popsicle sticks going to get going or do we have to suffer more over exposure and tooth decay?” Memaw interrupted from the kitchen room with her arms crossed over her chest and a playfully annoyed expression. Beside her Mini looked like she was holding back an ocean’s worth of glee as she bit her lip and folded her hands.

She was just glad to see you weren’t dehydrating through excessive crying again.

“Alright, sweet cheeks, let’s get this show on the road,” Red said, reaching for you around your waist. You felt his hand settle on the curve of your hip like it belonged there and you were tugged closer, tilted until you leaned against him and that’s when the world went dark and silent until it popped like a bubble. You blinked and sagged as the shivers ran through your whole body, making your knees weak.

“I gotcha, sweetheart.”

When Red’s voice rumbled you felt it more than heard it. Being so close it was a force that made your very bones vibrate. Like before, being so close to Red you could smell his personal scent and instantly categorized it as ‘ _good_ ’ even if you couldn’t distinguish its makeup. 

“Are humans normally dizzy after a shortcut?” you asked, still sagged against him. Red didn’t seem to mind and he was nice enough not to shake you off.

“Most of the times, yeah,” Red answered. “I’ve had to blip a few sick folks out of their beds into hospitals and it’s always a surprise to see how they react. Some of them are so out of it they don’t even notice and others nearly turn themselves inside out.”

“Any of them ever throw up on you?”

“Why you wanna know something so gross?”

“Ah, so someone has done it before.”

“Don’t be so-gah, you’re enjoying this too much. You’re fine, come on, I got something to show you in the kitchen.”

He sounded upset but he didn’t push you off, only dragged you with him towards the kitchen. Their apartment had almost the same set up and layout as the one your grandmothers lived in. The two bedrooms were probably already divided up for Red and his brother.

Before you could go too far you found the feeling in your legs and picked yourself up to walk alongside Red, but he still kept one hand on your hip; just in case you decided to pitch or fall over he’d be there ready to hold you up again.

In the kitchen you stilled when you recognized the familiar set up. “You started making dinner already?”

“Nah, not really, I just got a little of the prep stuff pulled out for us. I thought this might be nice to do for bro when he comes back. He’s so coo. Boss loves to cook and he does it almost exclusively in our home. I’m too much of a, heh, too much of a lazybones to bother. His favorite dish is-”

“Lasagna, I know,” you gently interrupted.

“Yeah, that’s why I brought all this stuff out. He’s the coolest and he does so much for us so I-I wanted to try something for ‘em. Whadaya say? Wanna help me prep the boss’ favorite food for him?” Red asked.

“Is this the real reason you came over early because you know lasagna takes like two hours to make?”

Red stared at you blankly, his smile becoming strained. “…What?”

You pat at his chest and moved away to start. “It’s fine, I know what I’m doing and it looks like you’re not starting from scratch the way I do. Let’s get started.” 

It was easy to talk with Red. Conversation between the two of you flowed naturally and for not the first time, you recognized how blessed you were to have a friend like him you could see and joke with while the rest of the world locked themselves up. If the situation had been different, if you weren’t paralyzed with fear of ruining the good thing you had with Red, you would have flirted back and entertained the thought that maybe he might be open to something…

But at the same time you remembered Edge and how complicated that would be, considering he was also a dear friend who you were attracted to. And damn if you weren’t the type of person who’d rather die than do wrong by another and end up hurting someone else.

Somewhere in the middle of prepping the lasagna Red had turned on the radio and soft music muffled the edges of the atmosphere in the kitchen. It was easy to sway and bop to the rhythm while working. Anytime Red whistled or hollered at your dance moves it only made you feel better for goofing off and letting loose.

If every day could be so carefree you could die happy. Why was this sort of soft peace so impossible to find anywhere else?

There were ingredients for a salad left out so Red picked up the head of lettuce you still needed to chop and tossed it between his hands before calling your name. “ _Lettuce_ dance.”

“Only if you don’t drop the _beat_ ,” you fired back, grabbing for one of the vegetables and pretending it was actually a beat.

“Hey, hey, what's a rabbit's favorite dance style?” Red fired back.

“Hip hop.”

He snapped his fingers and cursed under his breath. “I should have known you’d get that one. You’re stealing all my best material.”

“Couldn’t let you have all the fun.”

“Eh, I prefer pick up lines. Hey, listen, are you my appendix? Because I don't understand what you do, but this feeling in my stomach makes me want to take you out?”

“Red you’re a skeleton, you don’t even have an appendix!” you laughed.

“What’s this then?” And then Red proceeded to pull a book out from between his ribs and under his shirt, already flipped and marked open to the page about human anatomy with the appendix circled in red sharpie. That’s when you lost it and collapsed on the ground laughing happy tears. Red knelt down beside you and watched as you exhausted yourself in glee, seemingly more pleased about your reaction than the actual execution of the joke.

“You’re gonna kill me like this one day, Sans,” you stuttered through your giggles, slipping up and calling his real name.

“Is it because of my killer good looks?” he pored.

You swatted at him and rolled over as the oven dinged. You grabbed for some oven mitts and opened the door to reach in and pull out the glass dish thick with rolls and melting cheese. Red checked his phone and sighed heavily while you moved the dish onto the oven top to let it cool.

“Sounds like Boss is ready for a pickup. I’ll be back in two seconds, sweets.”

You looked up in time to catch Red winking.

It was longer than two seconds, but in a handful of moments the static was back and then there was an audible pop before Edge and Red staggered into space. You noticed a second later that Edge’s stagger had less to do with the space folding technology and rushed to greet him with a shoulder under his arm.

_Oh no_

“Edge?” you called up to him.

He didn’t respond at first or look your way, but you felt his hand reach up and pat down the back of your skull, brushing down your hair. His eye sockets shuttered shut and you felt him inhale deeply. Red stepped away while Edge leaned closer to you, nearly folding himself up.

“You’re home now,” you said softly, hoping he was in a state of mind where he could hear you.

“Supervisor said he lost a few on his case load today, the most at once since he started,” Red explained in a detached tone of voice. Between the two of them, you would normally say Edge did better with trauma, but it looked like today had hit him especially hard.

“So small,” Edge mumbled.

You didn’t respond but waited for him to finish processing. His hand kept coming back to your skull, following it’s shape in pats and pets. You almost felt like some sort of cat under his hand but didn’t hate it. If you were able to help, you wanted to.

“They were all so small too, so thin and tired. They…nobody could see them at the end, and I…they had to say goodby to someone…”

Your heart broke in two and you reached around to press him closer to your side, hugging him close as he shuddered with new words.

“I wasn’t any help either,” he laughed wetly. “I can’t catch it but I can’t heal it either. What’s the…th-they just wanted to say goodbye so why?”

More than any other monster you had met you had never seen one as physically imposing as Edge with his towering frame, sharp features and piercing gaze. But right now, he was bent and shivering with sockets full of tears for a horror you cowered from on your worst days. The helplessness he felt was one you choked on all too often.

You felt broken inside, watching him fall apart.

“You did what you could, bo-Paps. You did more than any of us could,” Red tried to say, looking like he was in pain as he watched his little brother fall apart.

“I couldn’t do anything-” Edge snapped, glaring down at the floor as more tears fell. “I was fucking unless-I-”

“You weren’t!” you gasped, pulling yourself closer to Edge. “You weren’t, you weren’t do say that. They were alone and they were scared and you were there to help them when their families couldn’t. You did more for them than anyone else. Don’t say you’re useless while doing what others only dream of doing. You don’t know how much they needed someone to be next to them. I know it hurts right now, I know you’re in pain and that’s because you care. You’ve got one of the brightest damn souls out there and you care more than anyone knows. Thank you, Papyrus.”

He sniffled and rubbed at his face with the back of his arm, smearing crimson colored tears across the back of his clothes. It was a minute more before he could get his breathing under control and start to unfold. He turned to you and grabbed at your shoulders to pull you back and look you over, eye lights bright and scarlet tinged.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he stood. He pressed the back of his hand to your forehead and you felt a flare of magic, recognizing it. Monsters who could heal also knew how to use their magic to read vital signs when they were in contact with humans.

“I’m doing just fine.” 

“You’re dehydrated!”

“And you’re not?”

“Skeletons do not need to replenish their liquids with anything but rest and time!” he snapped, straightening himself up to his full height.

He sounded like his usual self and you were happy to recognize the signs of his recovery. As emotionally draining as his day had been, he was able to pull himself back. You’d never get over it if you heard about one of them falling down because of the trauma associated with caring for such sick people.

“Well I can eat with dinner. Red and I put something together for you.”

“I thought I was going to cook for us?”

“You always do it, Boss,” Red complained.

“So you made the guest prepare food for the rest of us?” Edge gasped. “Red you imbecile! We don’t treat our guests like house servants!”

“It wasn’t just me, Red did help out in the kitchen so it was a joint effort. No need to beat him up too much over it. Come and check it out.”

Edge stepped into the kitchen and his eye lights zeroed in on the glass dish atop the counter and he loudly gasped, hands flying to his cheekbones as his eye lights spun into speckled stars that throbbed with extra magic.

“Lasagna! You made me lasagna?”

“Special friendship lasagna,” you coyly corrected with a knowing grin.

The stars in his eyes spun into hearts-or at least you thought they were hearts because monster hearts looked like spades to you since they were all inverted.

“Let’s not have it go cold on us. Edge, you can get the plates down for us, can’t you. I’ll serve. Red, you get the drinks.”

“Booze!” Red cheered loudly.

You heard him cackle as he swung the fridge door open and pulled out a bottle of wine then used his red magic to pull down a trio of wine glasses. Edge didn’t have to use magic as he could reach up high without issue.

One by one you loaded up the plates and then the tree of you gathered in the living room to eat on the floor table with pillows for cushions while the television cycled through a loop of a fireplace burning logs. In the living room Edge had hung drooping rows of white and gold twinkle lights that he turned on for you while turning off all the other overhead lights. Outside the rain started to come down and you felt safer than you had in a long time on that floor between your boys.

“I saw on the news someone said building a blanket fort was a good idea, but this is what we have to work with,” Edge sighed, sounding disappointed in his efforts.

“I love it,” you said with nothing but honesty in your voice. “I feel so safe here.”

Edge’s disappointed gaze cut to you and you watched the edges of his sockets soften. “Well, if you like it than that’s what is most important.”

“Don’t you like it for yourself?” you asked.

“My favorite decoration is always your smile. You should know that by now,” he playfully chastised while looking away. In the soft light you almost miss the way he blushes.

“Okay Casanova, move over and turn on movie night. We’re hitting the human classics hard tonight,” Red said, looking your way. “Wanna take a guess what we picked out?”

“Star Wars?”

Edge barked a single laugh before standing to prepare the television set with the DVD.

“Try again, sweetheart.”

“A superhero movie?”

“I did want to watch Professor Marston & the Wonder Women but I was struck down by my brother for reasons beyond my comprehension,” Edge complained loudly with his back to you as he changed the settings on the television set. A moment later the screen switched from a burning log to the title screen of the DVD.

“No!” you gasped in mock horror. “You didn’t!”

“That’s what the wine is for,” Red cackled.

You moaned loudly and fell back onto your floor pillows as the Twilight movie rolled on. “I don’t know if there is enough wine for me to make this bearable.”

“Babe, you ain’t seen my collection,” Red purred suggestively. “I’ve got booze enough for days. C’mere and get sloshed.”

“Quit besmirching the cinematic masterpiece,” Edge snickered, trying his best to keep his face straight as he retook his place on your left. “It is a human _classic_.”

“Shut up and pass me the wine.”

A half hour in Edge took all your plates and put away the leftover lasagna in the fridge while Red refilled your wine for you. It was nowhere near enough to get you drunk, but you thought you might be a little buzzed while on your third glass. Instead of a forth glass Red snuggled up to your right side and pulled down a blanket to share. Edge grabbed the end and helped smooth it out over all three of you as the outside rain continued to fall

After the movie ended you prepped plates of desserts while Edge got the sequel ready. You ate and watched between your two favorite boys while the atmosphere outside helped lull you in a hazy state of comfort.

“Humans were oddly fascinated with monsters. I was surprised with how many monster human romance movies there were when we first came to the surface,” Edge whispered during a slow scene.

“You mean horny?” you softly corrected. When he sputtered you laughed. “Yeah, that’s been a thing for eons. Plenty of humans have had a thing for monsters since even before the barrier broke.”

“I thought it was still sorta taboo with most folks to date a monster,” Red said.

“That’s only the asshole humans. The same ones would think Grandma Mini and Memaw shouldn’t be together.”

“Cause they’re old?” Red guessed.

“Cause they’re both women,” you corrected. “Some people see it as…wrong.”

“Don't’ make sense to me. Aphys and Undyne are no different and they’re the most in love monsters I know,” Red grumbled.

“Humans can be…real misguided about some things sometimes,” you sighed. “Before they were married, Mini was married to my late grandfather. Memaw was one of his best friends and she moved in with them back when I was a baby. No one thought terribly about it until after he died and Mini and Memaw got married. Mini got basically black listed for the family for marrying a woman and then, later on, for admitting to having a polyamorous relationship with Paul, her husband.”

You almost missed the nervous looks Red and Edge shot each other.

“That’s…another taboo thing?” Red asked hesitantly.

“Only by assholes,” you answered. “If it’s respectful and mutual and built on love that’s what’s most important. Like here, with the stupid vampire, werewolf love triangle they have going on. It’d be so much easier for everyone if she just dated both of them.”

“I saw you liked that type of fan-fiction,” Edge added, making you sputter and cough on the last bit of your wine. But when he smirked your way all you could do was laugh, remembering half of your reading list was already shared with him. It wasn’t like it was something he didn’t know.

The three of you watched more of the movie until Red spoke up, distracting you from the main character’s flight to Italy.

“So, you ever think about it?” he asked.

“Think about what?”

“Dating…a…ah monstah?” he chuckled, a bit pink in the face.

“Or alternatively,” Edge interjected, “A pride.”

“Whats…what’s a pride?” you asked.

“It’s what monsters call a poly relationship, but normally it’s with a pivot dynamic. That’s where there’s one central figure who mates multiple date-mates without those date-mates having to interact,” Edge explained, sounding distracted as his eye lights stayed on the television screen. “More of your human poly groups were a bit more involved, like what Mini and Memaw mentioned having with your grandfather.”

“Eh, just so long as those date mates don’t end up feeling unequally yoked. That would suck real fast if there wasn’t some damn good communication going on.”

“Normally prides don’t get off the ground with at least that,” Red chuckled while Edge stuttered mutely on your other side, clearly more upset by something than his brother.

You might have been able to tell what that was if you weren’t four glasses in and sickly softly into a brain haze that made you honest and calm. It still wasn’t enough to make you drunk, but saying honest things was easier.

More of the movie rolled on and nearly finished before Red spoke up once more.

“Would you be willing to try it?”

You don’t even think about it before you answer honestly, eyes stuck on the screen. “Sure, why not?”

Red’s eye lights went out and Edge froze in place. 

The dvd ended and you stood up to pull it out and put it away in its case. There was a third and forth disc in the boxset and you smiled, almost crazy enough to suggest it. You looked up to ask if the brothers would be crazy enough to go another four hours but Edge shouted first.

“I’m in love with you!”

You blinked, still swimming through fuzzy thoughts as Red crawled over towards his brother. “Boss, boss, that-that wasn’t the plan. Mema still-”

“I don’t want to wait anymore! I had to say it Sans.” Edge looked up at you again and repeated his words. “I love you and I’m in love with you. Please date me and my brother.”

You…blinked again…trying to process your thoughts.

Edge…

Said…

He….said he loved you.

And Red? Edge asked you to date him…but also…date….Red….

You looked to where Red knelt atop the floor pillows, sweating nervously as a bright cherry red blush colored his cheekbones. He swallowed and chuckled and looked everywhere but at you while Edge stared up at you unflinchingly.

“Sans?”

When he heard his real name Red looked up and whimpered. You don’t admit to how pleased you were in your primal thoughts when you heard him make little sounds.

“Do you want to date me too?” you asked without looking away.

Red nodded slowly and then rubbed at his face, cursing into his hand. “F-f-uck yes,” he forced out, looking like he was goanna pass out from the effort. “I-I wanna date you and…and I want you to date my brother too…if you’re into that.”

“Sure.”

Red’s eye lights went out.Edge stood up suddenly, eye lights blooming into scarlet upside down hearts. “Really?” the taller skeleton gasped.

“Yeah, I like you guys and this is honestly the only way I’d be comfortable dating cause I-cause I like you both a-ah a lot.” You chuckled at how truthful the confession was.

You did like both of them. You were attracted to the pair of them but had resolved to hang onto the friendship because that’s all you felt entitled to. You hadn’t even considered dating both of them. Things like that happened in fan fiction. You didn’t expect to find love during a quarantine.

“Ya mean it, sweetheart?” Red asked, sounding lost and small.

You looked at Red and then at Edge before nodding to the both of them. “Yeah, I do.”

Edge swooped down to gather you up into a bone crushing hug as he laughed and spun with you around the room, crying happy tears this time.Red complained loudly and then reached for you, dragging you down into his arms while Papyrus still clung to you. The three of you ended up in a tangled three way embrace as the rain continued to fall outside, unchanged and steady.

“Thank you,” Edge said.

“You’ve made us the happiest fucking monsters in the world tonight,” Red added, sounding like his words were wet with happy tears.

“That makes me the happiest human,” you laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a rough 9.3K for this chapter. It was a whale that kept fighting me, wanting to grow and swallow more and more of my time. I swear I had to fight it.  
> But I think I'm happy with the ending. I don't know if it's just me but I was sorta emotional at different parts and vented a lot through writing this piece. It's tough out there and I know people are struggling so I hope, truly and honestly, for the best for all of you.  
> Stay safe, stay strong, stay determined.


	4. Surprise Bonus Poly Chapter (that no on asked for)

### What If: Poly pt. 2

* * *

Months later and the world was different…maybe not better, but different. Slowly the businesses started to open up and then suddenly the businesses were opening up and then the world was back to a hot panic as people in power realized that hadn’t been such a good idea.

Some of the university campuses were coming back for in person classes but you, thankfully, only needed on campus for work while taking all your classes online. Work wasn’t hard, or even in a high traffic area, but it sucked that you had to be on campus to work on archiving data for your instructor just so you could make some spare change and buy the things your scholarship didn’t cover.

The only upside to any of this was the fact that Sans insisted on prioritizing your trip on and off campus, and that meant seeing his face every workday at least twice. If he couldn’t pick you up he freaked out and made sure Edge was there to escort you back home. Both you and Edge thought it was kinda cute how much Red cared. You knew he loved you, but it was sweet as heck when you could see it so plainly in his actions.

“Of course he would be worried about you,” Edge said though a sigh when picking you up one afternoon. “You are his partner, after all. It’s natural for lovers to elevate their mates, isn’t it?”

The straight face Edge said it with was what inspired your laughter. You reached for the front of his jacket and buried your face in his chest, stifling the giggles while indoors. You felt his hand on the back of your head, brushing down your hair affectionately.

“I’m still not used to the language sometimes. Whenever I hear the word ‘mate’ my mind goes back to that viral video of the humping rabbit mates you showed me,” you snickered. “It’s not a widely used human word.”

“Well forgive us, we can’t help it if we still talk like monsters,” Edge chuckled with a dark look to his eye lights, knowing exactly which video he was talking about and how it never failed to make you weak with laughter. Edge delighted too much in crippling you with cheer. You swear between the two of them you were destined to die of happiness.

“Hang on, I need to finish this and fix my mask and then I’ll be ready to leave,” you sighed, pulling away from his hold.

“Do not mind me, I have nothing for the rest of the day and am happy to wait,” Edge said.

You turned back and sat down at the computer, counting up the data points to where you left off and hurried to finish off the recording sheet into the program. It blinked when you saved it, and because that always made you suspicious, you clicked to save it a couple more times before you were satisfied it really _was_ saved. You closed out of the first program and then opened a window to record your hours when you nearly jumped at the feeling of something touching your sides.

“Shi-Pap-Edge, what are you doing?”

Edge leaned over your chair and rested his chin on your shoulder, humming loudly as his arms encircled your waist. “This office is pretty quiet and I was feeling… lonely.”

The office _was_ quiet because _empty_ offices usually were. The whole west wing of the building was devoid of traffic since most of its work went remote during the first few months. As far as you knew, you and Edge were the only ones around…a fact Edge must have figured out if he was willing to get frisky with you.

“I’m almost done. Give me a minute here otherwise I’ll put in the wrong numbers and mess it all up,” you complained. “I wanna get paid.”

“I have money,” Edge grumbled, turning his face so that his teeth brushed against your shoulder. “But it doesn’t make me happier than this.”

You bit your lip to keep a moan back and wiggled in your seat to dislodge him from your shoulder, even if deep down you wish you could just let him have his way. “I love you to, babe, but I gotta get this done and then I promise I’m all yours.”

“All mine?” Edge teased, leaning in closer but no longer touching. He knew how to listen when you said no and you would respect him to the moon and back for how honestly he listened and followed your lead on boundary issues.

“Until six thirty when your brother comes home,” you laughed. “Then you have to share, them the rules.”

“That’s barely an hour.”

“Then I guess you better hush and let me work so I can get done here.”

Edge pulled back and turned aroundto sit parallel in an extra swivel chair. You could see out of the corner of your eye his smirk but ignored it in favor of finishing your work. You only had the bottom half of your weekly timecard to summit and then you were done.

You weren’t sure if you had ever worked faster in your life.

The computer chimed before starting it’s shut down sequence and you reached for your mask, left to hang off the desk lamp. When you turned around Edge already had your backpack in hand and looked excited to be shouldering it next to the doorway.

“About time,” he teased with a playful glare.

You almost laughed at the look he struck, tall and menacing in black skinny jeans, a distressed red and black band tee, a black lather jacket with studs and spikes to match the ones on his doc martins…holding a soft blue and white backpack that was heavy with keychain ornaments and enamel pins. Edge looked like every bad boy’s fantasy self but your backpack didn’t fit the look at all…at least not until you were in his arms.

“Hang on,” he sighed, reaching down to adjust your mask.

You thought he was going to straighten it but instead he pulled it down all the way and kissed up, pressing forward with tongue and a satisfied moan that left you weak in the knees. When he eventually pulled away the look on his face was equal parts delighted and mischievous. He pulled up your mask and straightened it again, looking smug as you staggered in place.

“You’re worse than your brother today,” you stuttered out. “What’s the occasion?”

“I can be affectionate too,” Edge huffed, taking your hand but keeping your backpack on his shoulder to carry. “Don’t think that just because I’m not always trying to stuff my hands into your pants that I’m less interested.”

“I wouldn’t think that, I know you too well,” you said, happy to be holding his hand as he walked you out.

There were a few more people on campus but the majority of them were wearing masks, even outside. There were a number of monster students who were kind enough to wear a mask in solidarity with their human classmates, even though it was common knowledge that monsters couldn’t catch or carry human diseases thanks to being made out of magic.

Edge pressed you to his side and glared at a student walking with his longboard under his arm who was heading in your direction. He was talking into his phone and wasn’t wearing a mask you noticed, even though he was inside. The skater saw Edge’s expression and stumbled before turning off to the side, giving the both of you the sidewalk length to pass.

“Sometimes I envy my brother for being able to spirit you away at a moment’s notice,” Edge grumbled, glaring at anyone who looked like they were going to get too close to you. “Don’t tell him I said that though, his ego doesn’t need any help-Ugh, what is wrong with some humans?”

You followed Edge’s gaze to a window showing off the outside courtyard where students were protesting the virus restrictions. There were advertisements for ‘catching’ parties where people would congregate in hopes of spreading their germs around.

“Let’s just get to the parking lot,” you said, hoping you didn’t see any other wacky protesters who blamed the state of the world on monsters, since that was the hottest trend in conspiracy theories. You were more sensitive to that sort of slander than the stupid humans who only wanted to infect themselves. Your boys busted their tailbones helping others during the pandemic and they did not deserve to have some asshole shout at them about how ‘monsters instigated the whole pandemic as a means to get ahead of the humans.’

Edge steered you out to the parking lot and you saw the sleek, black Lamborghini convertible that was parked up front with the meter still saying he had another half hour before expiring. He rounded the side of his car and opened the passenger’s side door for you before ushering you in and handing off your backpack.

Your phone vibrated in your pocket and you pulled it free just as Edge was sliding in behind the wheel. When he saw you still weren’t buckled up he rolled his eye lights and leaned over to do it for you. Absently you moved out of the way so he could snap the buckle into place for your seat.

“Hey Edge,” you called out, scrolling through the message. “I think I need to crash with you guys tonight. Mini has a migraine and I don’t want to make any more trouble for her in the house.” You looked up from your phone. “Is that alright?”

“You’re honestly asking me that?” Edge echoed.

“No, not really. I just wanted to phrase it like I’m asking because I’m nice and know how to use manners.” You grinned and pulled down you mask to show off your cheeky expression. “Was there ever a chance for you to say no?”

“As if I would be the fool to pass up on such an offer,” Edge scoffed, leaning back in his seat and bringing his convertible to life.“Is that all the message said?”

“That’s all Memaw said her text,” you answered truthfully.

You didn’t mention the other messages left by your parents. Last week you had started to get messages from your mom first and then your dad, asking about when you were moving back and if you were around any monsters. Knowing your parents and which media and talk news personalities they listened to, you already had a suspicion what they would say if you ever answered and listened to them talk.

“Do you want me to make up the guest bed?” he asked.

You sputtered on a laugh in reaction. “Hell no. Ain’t no way I’m passing up on skeleton cuddles. You gotta share.”

-

You woke up in Edge’s arms in front of the television, conscious of being in the living room after dinner with your date-mate. You blinked hard and you realized why you had stirred when the static resulted in Red appearing in the center of the hallway,staggering a bit before bracing against the wall with his free hand. His other arm was loaded down with bags from a grocery store run.

“Red!” you cheered, popping up out of Edge’s arms and nearly falling.

“Hey there sweetheart, I see you weren’t too bonely without me,” Red laughed before swinging the bags up onto the counter.

Edge turned off his cell phone and made a loud _tisking_ sound before standing with you in his arms. “I’m still flummoxed, my dear, as to how you are able to tell when _I_ can’t even predict my brother’s shortcuts.”

“It’s love,” Red gushed in a overly fake sugary sweet tone while making grabby hands for you.

“Obviously, since I don’t love my only brother,” Edge scoffed, turning to hold you out of Red’s reach at the last second. He glared down at Red and then smirked devilishly. “We already had dessert since you were so late.”

“I was busy providing for this ungrateful baby bones brother of mine,” Red complained loudly.

He glared right back at his brother and the two could have caught the house on fire between their simmering looks, but you popped up behind Edge and waved your hands in front of his face, disrupting the friendly glare.

“No fighting under this roof,” you chastise before wiggling enough to slip down.

Edge let you go and you reached Red with your arms out, already prepared for the tight bear hug he was notorious for tormenting you with. As expected, he nearly cracked your robs open with his tight hug, squeezing you to his chest until you gasped and slapped at his back.

“How was work babe?” Red asked.

“Boring as fucking hell.”

“Language!” Edge yelled on reflex.

“Boring as fucking heck.”

Red sputtered in laughter, covering his mouth with his hands as you did your best impersonation of Memaw, who had the filthiest mouth out of all of you (with Red being a close second). You grinned up at Edge and he rolled his eye lights at your smug expression.

“You’re lucky I love you, human,” he grumbled before bending down to kiss the top of your head. “But as much as I do love you, I’ll be unable to stay and cuddle like I promised I would. You’ll have to settle for my brother. I know it’s a sacrifice, but in these unprecedented times we must all navigate the chaos as best we can.”

“Are you going to the hospital at this hour?” you asked, glancing at the clock above the stove. Red had come home later because of his errands and the numbers read 7:54PM

“I don’t have shortcuts so I have to drive in to work. They’re understaffed with monsters and the humans need relief.”

“It’s almost like theres more demand for you guys than there was during the lockdown,” you said.

“I’m sorry, my dear. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Edge said. He then looked up over your head at his brother and didn’t say anything, but nodded with a look of unspoken meaning passing between them.

“Stay safe,” you called out as he paused by the doorway to pick out his keys from the bowl on the end table. “I love you!”

Edge’s expression was soft in a way that was only ever for you. “I love you too. Goodnight.”

Red used red magic to flip the locks after Edge was out and instead settled his hands around your waist, coming up from behind to rest his chin on your shoulder. “I guess I should have hurried. I didn’t know they’d call him so late at night.”

“I feel bad,” you confessed. “He stayed because of me, didn’t he?”

Red chuckled into the skin of your neck. “You know nothing is more important than family, right? Of course he wouldn’t leave you like that.” He paused when he realizing something. “What’s got you bothered, babe? Something else happen at school today?”

“Nothing new.”

“…Okay, then why is your soul fluttering around like a hummingbird at the thought of Edge going out?”

“Ugh, you said you weren’t going to peak anymore!”

Red whined when you tried to get away but pulled you closer, unwilling to let you break free. “I _didn’t_ , I just felt it with you so close, babydoll.”

“It’s rude to snoop.”

“I’m sorry,” he whined and you knew he meant it.

Red was honest and upfront about his bad habits and promised to work on them for you. Chief amongst those bad habits was listening to your soul without asking. You told him it unsettled you and would only allow it after he asked, but sometimes when he was tired or distracted he would slip up and notice what you 'sounded' like. It was something not even Edge could do, so you figured you could forgive him if he really was the only monster who could judge the truth of a person’s soul.

“I know you didn’t mean it. Are you tired?” you asked.

Red nodded slowly, still looking upset. “I… I promised though. Sorry sweetheart.”

You could hear the honest hurt in his voice and it was more than enough to ease your ire. “I told you I’m fine, but I appreciate you catching it and apologizing. I know you didn’t mean it, but now I’m worried about you. Your magic felt so thin when you jumped in. Did you eat?”

“I was busy,” he admitted, still keeping his voice low.“I hadn’t had the chance to stop yet.”

“I know you’re strong but that’s not a good enough reason for them to push you to your limits. Next time just come straight home and skip the groceries. Edge or I can-”

Red looked up sharply and you stopped, remembering earlier conversations. Edge was obviously quite shaken after working in the hospital and watching so many die, but you were surprised by how much fear Red seemed to have about _you_ catching something and getting sick. Even if he knew you were taking precautions and following guidelines, he wanted to do everything he could to keep you from having to risk it.

_‘It’s like rolling these different dice, yeah,’ Red said once before. He pulled out a set of dice for his DND games and pointed to where the 1 was on each die. ‘Landing on a 1 lands in you in a sickbed, would you rather roll this die with only four sides or this one with twenty?’_

_‘Is the D20 the die that represents going out while following all the protocols and safety procedures?’ you asked._

_‘Yeah, while this pyramid D4 is for the dumbass out there attending_ catching parties. _’_

_‘Then of course I’d go with the D20, that sounds like the safest.’_

_‘Nah babe,” Red teased fondly. ‘The safest bet is to not roll any of these dice at all. Just stay safe where you are and we’ll take care of you. We got too lucky finding and having you in our lives, I ain’t about to gamble on losing that.’_

You remembered the conversation fondly and appreciated Red’s vulnerability in admitting how scared he was to lose you. Both he and Edge agreed the best thing would be for you to stay home as much as possible, but if you had to go out, one of them should be close by.

A few medical studies suggested that powerful monsters with more magic, like boss monsters, acted as an anti infection buffer since their magic existed several meters beyond their physical bodies. Diseases and viruses couldn’t survive in their magical field and so proximity to a powerful monster was considered more effective than most protective gear.

It was also the ‘reason’ Edge liked to kiss you so often before and after taking your mask off. He claimed it was a ‘service’ to keep you safe and his delight had nothing to do with how frequently he pressed in to feel the warmth from your kiss. Red was no better with his roaming hands. 

“I know you care for me Red, but I care for you. That concern goes both ways. I want you to be safe from overworking and exhaustion,” you said.

“The boss would have a fit if he heard that,” Red chuckled.

“He likes to berate you, but you know he’s proud of you, right? We’re both really proud of you and how you’ve helped out so much.”

Your honest words caused his skull to color and his eye lights to flicker. Their edges were blurry and you recognized the way they would often look before forming shapes.

“Th-thanks babe.” He swallowed and forced out a chuckle. “Fuck, why ya gotta be so sappy on me as soon as I get in the door?”

You smirked and felt a little coyness seep into your expression. “Because I’m _difficult_ , remember? Now, if you’re not too opposed to anymore spoiling why don’t we get you some dinner. I put something together not too long ago.”

“And… dessert?”

You had moved towards the kitchen but paused to glance back over your shoulder. Deliberately, you dragged your eyes up his frame from socks to skull before looking him dead in the eye lights with a cheeky grin.

“If you’re good I’m sure I can give some more.”

He planted a kiss on your cheek before turning to the groceries left in their bags. He sorted them out and put them away before taking a quick break to change and shower. When he emerged again you had his dinner ready along with a tall glass of frothing beer.

“Babe,” he gasped in delight at the steak and veggie dinner. His eye lights did turn into shapes this time and you were delighted when you realized they were monster hearts. The hearts didn’t go away when he looked up from his food at you. “I am so fucking lucky.”

“Pull up a chair and I’ll sit with you while you eat. Did you hear about that story in the news with the six year old boy that protected his sister from a dog attack?” you asked.

“It sounds like ‘good’ news so nah, ain’t heard any of that in a while.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve been saving up my stories for you,” you said.

Red ate while you tried to recall all the nice and happy things that were going on in the world, recounting both national news and the most mundane of personal life details. He hummed and nodded along, listening to everything you said. Occasionally he would stop and ask a question, but he was content to let you yammer. You had a hard time thinking of any other person or time when you felt so listened to. The only other person who made you feel like so was Edge, though he did like to engage and banter back more than Red.

“You’re really fucking cute.”

You snorted and looked back at Red with an expression of disbelief. “Where did that come from?”

“I can’t tell my human they’re cute?”

“It was just so off topic.”

“Heeeey,” Red leered playfully.

You rolled your eyes but humored him. “Yes?”

“You come here often?”

“Red, this is your house,” you giggled.

“No shit. Are you a parking ticket? Because you’ve got FINE written all over you.” Red made his bro bones wiggle and you actually snorted at his expressions.

To distract yourself you reached for his plate to take to the sink. You turned on the faucet and started to scrub off the grim when you felt his arms come up behind you and lazily loop around your waist. He didn’t try to stop you, so you continued to wash his plate while he rocked the weight of his body from one foot to the next, swaying gently behind you. If there was music you might have even called it dancing.

You were happy to have himand you were grateful he was so content in this particular moment. There were some evenings he came home on his last dredge of magic. For such a lazy guy he sure did push himself to his limits often enough.

In your opinion, the worst of it was how well he hid his exhaustion. After a close call when he passed out on his feet and didn’t wake up until hours later, you had all had a conversation about healthy limits. No matter what he thought he could do and get away with, he wasn’t the only one suffering the consequences of his poor decisions. He was a part of a family. When he hurt himself you and Edge where there suffering the grief and anxiety for it.

You broke down crying one time about how scared you were about potentially losing him it had jarred Red enough to mend his ways in the right direction. What he had with you and Edge was going to be work, and some of that work included taking care of himself. 

“I’m really lucky,” he rumbled into the back of your skull, nuzzling there. When he slouched he was almost your height but you knew he was taller than you by a good few inches (when he bothered to straighten his spine).

“You think _you’re_ the lucky one here?” The lazy tenor of his voice made you giddy. “What does that make me?”

“A blessing?”

“You’re way too smooth tonight. Are you feeling fine, Red?”

“Nah, the doctor said I was a little deficient in vitamin U. Do you think you could help me out?” he chuckled, one hand squeezing your hip in emphasis.

You were just about to respond when you heard your phone on the counter ring. It was a call and not a text so you reached out to grab and answer it before looking to see who it was. You figured it was Mini or Memaw calling to update you and ask if you were still okay sleeping over with the boys for one night.

When your father’s voice came through on the other end the levity you felt evaporated and was replaced by a cold dread. He said your name and you felt lost all over again.

“Dad? What are you-you’re calling me?”

The last time you had spoken with either parent it had been a messy affair several months prior. It had resulted in your parents essentially disowning you for choosing your ‘deviant’ grandmothers over them. You hadn’t heard a peep out of them since even though you still saw signs of them on social media accounts every now and then-on the days you felt like poking your emotional bruises.

“You’re still going to that university,” he started to say. “The one with all the monsters. It’s not worth the money and we want you to switch. It’s too dangerous there with the high monster population.”

You were still shell shocked that he was even speaking to you. He sounded like your last conversation never happened.

“What are you doing? Why are you calling me now?” you asked, sounding lost even to your own ears. From beside you Red had gone still too, listening to the call that was loud enough to be overheard. 

“You’ve made some mistakes in the past but there’s reasons for that. Your mother is still against it but I wanted to give you another chance.”

“Another chance?” you echoed, still numb all the way through.

“We saw articles about that university you’re going to. It has the highest monster density and there were even reports from PatriotTags that some humans were suffering from _mild suggestion_ as a result of being in close proximity to monsters. That’s why you’ve been acting so odd. You were never so willful before. School changed you and the monsters only made it worse. We told you they weren’t safe.”

“What…?” You felt like you couldn’t breath. The numbness was in your lungs now.

There was a pause over the line before you heard your father speak again. “It wasn’t your fault, just come home and I’ll fix everything. There aren’t any monsters in our district. It’s a safe place for families.”

“Dad you cut me off last time. You said you didn’t-that I made my choice. Monsters don’t have anything to do with this. I’m not going back and you’ve been unreasonable about Grandma Mini since way before I went off to uni,” you snapped, sounding manic with how high your voice pitched. Your throat vibrated with panic and your eyes stung with what would soon be new tears.

“You’re not yourself right now. You don’t sound like you.”

“How the hell would you know what I sound like? You’ve only ever seen me as your kid and can’t accept the fact that I’m an adult with a brain. When we disagree I’m always only wrong cause I think differently from you. The only reason you’re willing to forgive me is cause you think I got brainwashed by monsters? So what? So as long as I fold myself back into the mold of the child you wanted me to be you’re willing to accept me?”

“There have been scientists who’ve studied suggestion who-”

“Bullshit! You threw me away first, don’t think you can call me up like this and pretend you didn’t just eviscerate me emotionally five months ago. You don’t get to do that.”

You were vibrating in place, flushed with anger and warm behind the ears because of it. If Red hadn’t been holding on you might have started slamming things. You felt his claws scratching lightly through you shirt, up and down, tracing patterns that were suppose to ground you.

“This isn’t about that. Your mother was being emotional about your choices but if you were being influenced that’s different, and we know they were getting monster deliveries during the lockdown. It could have started then.”

“No, it’s-no, I’m not doing this with you dad. I’m not believing in that, I’m not leaving grandma, and I’m not moving back in with you because you think a no-monster town is somehow safer.”

“Don’t be a sheep-”

“I’m done!” you yelled, cutting him off. “Don’t call me again.”

You slammed the end call button and wished for once that your touch screen smartphone was one of those old fashioned land lines that you could slam down to end the call with more emotional finality. Instead you tossed your phone across the counter and crumpled where you stood.

“Babe!” Red exclaimed, catching you before you could hit the floor.

You were shivering, eyes wet with new tears as the panic forced them out of you. The phone call was over but you could still hear his voice in your ears, saying all the things that hurt you the worst;somehow when they came from him or your mother they were so much more painful. How the hell did they get to keep hurting you, hundreds of miles away? Hadn’t they broken you enough?

“I’m here, I’m here, hey shhhh, I’m right here,” Red hushed, rocking a bit with you before grabbing for your hand. He forced your fingers to tap at your collarbone and feel what was solid underneath your skin. Then his voice was in your ear, guiding your through a grounding exercise. “Name five things you can see right now.”

A few minutes later you weren’t shaking anymore, but Red still rocked you in his arms. You could feel his hand underneath the hem of your shirt, rubbing slow circles across your stomach as you slouched against his side.

You swallowed, tasting cotton from the after echos of panic. “Red?” you croaked.

“I’m here babe, I’ve gotcha, I got you, I’m here.”

You were in his arms on the floor and he was rocking you. His legs were bent around you like fences to pin you close and keep you safe. You realized how much larger he was than you in the moment.

“What the fuck, man,” you moan aloud, rubbing at your face. “I fucking-I don’t know why I’m such a-ughh!”

“Don’t do that, you know what I said. You don’t get to say bad things about my favorite human, even if you _are_ my favorite human.”

“It doesn’t make sense. I wasn’t scare I wasn’t…I wasn’t supposed to be…” Your eyes were still wet and you knew you weren’t supposed to but you continued to rub at your face and smear your tears. 

Red leaned down at kissed the side of your face before nuzzling along the edge of your scalp, mindful of your hairline. “You know panic attacks ain’t the most logical things. We disassociate for the damnedest things even after being topside as long as we have. Don’t go blaming yourself. It's been a hard few months for the whole damn world.”

“I wish I wasn’t like this.”

“That’s fine. There are things about myself I wish I could change to, but to me you’re perfect even with what you’d consider flaws. I love you babe.”

Your body still tingled with the echos of panic but your stomach flopped with warmth at his words. Red seemed to know exactly what you needed to hear to make you feel better.

When you groaned he chuckled in response. “You know you’re my bread, butter, and _jam_ , don’t you doll? Don’t blame me for _laying it on so think_ but you’re the _sweetest_ and I just can’t help myself.”

“Now you’re just being heavy handed about it,” you snorted, smiling in spite of your best efforts.

Red’s grin was two steps shy of shit eating. “I bet I know something that’ll make you smile.” 

He scooped you up easily into his arms and folded you to his chest while making his way towards the back of the apartment. You turned and saw his bedroom door before he kicked that in and helped himself. As usual, the room was a disaster with plenty of mess and clutter, but when he dropped you down into his bed at the back you smelled the sheets and recognized the fresh fabric softener scent of newly laundered goods.

“Cuddle time,” he chuckled darkly, sounding far more ominous than he had any right to before following you into his bed under the covers.

When you turned around you saw that his jacket was already stripped and underneath all he wore was a old white tank that showed off a generous eyeful of bone. Red grabbed for you and pulled you close so that you were pressed up against his ribcage and facing his front.Sometimes he was happy to spoon, but you felt exceedingly cared for with his arm protectively draped over your side. When you reached your hand up underneath his tank and rested it over his ribs he rumbled in appreciation.

“Raincheck on that dessert doll face, I don’t want you to rush yourself,” Red chuckled. When you scratched his rib bones he shivered before ducking his head into your hair again. “I mean it, babe. Your heart ain’t much better off, so don’t tempt me.” 

“Sorry,” you mumbled through a coy smile, not meaning it at all. It was fun to see him squirm a little bit for a change.

“No you ain’t.”

“Raincheck?” you echoed. 

You could feel it when he exhaled in appreciation of your suggestion. Even if he didn’t have lungs to breath with, he still filtered magic like breathing. It was familiar and you felt yourself relax alongside him, breathing in time.

“Thanks,” you whispered. Behind you Red’s stray magic turned off all the lights and plunged the room into a dull dark. Outside you could still hear sound from the street and cars on the road.

“Don’t thank me for helping myself,” he said. “I’m the one who’s lucky as fuck.”

You didn’t respond right away but you did close your eyes and snuggle in. “Love you too, big guy.”

When you woke up to stir and shift in the middle of the night there was another body in bed behind you. Edge had made it home before dawn and changed into pajamas to join you. He was curled up along your back, spooning with a hand draped over your waist.He was asleep otherwise you would have bothered to reach up and kiss him or welcome him home.

There was a soft mist coming down, dripping off the window hangings and filling the dark with sounds you could melt into. Between your two boys you were home, you were safe, and you were damn lucky to have found them both in the first place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IDK, there is just something about being asked to sign a do-not-sue waiver when your work site fails to adhere to all the health and safety guidelines before opening back up because they're planning and prepping for the possibility of you dying on them.
> 
> I needed some comfort.

**Author's Note:**

> It's shabby and short but it was 2AM and I needed to write something to help with feelings and my weakness for UF bois hit me hard. 
> 
> Wash your hands!


End file.
